I often start by saying it has been a busy week at The Meadow, but in hindsight I don’t think I even knew the meaning of those words until this week! Where do I begin?
Let’s start with Saturday’s fantastic FA Cup win over Yeovil Town. We have come up against full-time sides already this season on our league, but Yeovil are another step up. It was not that long ago they were playing Championship football. In fact, it was just eleven years ago that they won 3-0 at Watford in a league game!
I made comment earlier in the week about the fantastic support and organisation and how much the contribution everyone made is appreciated so I will not go over all of that again, suffice to say that I am still beaming with pride following the dramatic 1-0 win that will live long in the memory of Chesham supporters.
What that result, that performance (on and off the pitch) did prove is that we should not be afraid to have ambition. Yes, Yeovil Town have yo-yo-d up and down the leagues, but they are a glowing example of how it is possible to move up the pyramid. Yes, they are several steps ahead of us in their off-field planning, organisation and structure, but who says that Chesham cannot have a football club as big and successful as Yeovil Town? Certainly, Saturday gave us a small glimpse of what the future might look like.
The celebrations from the win were magnificent, it all became history after Monday night’s First Round draw pitched against league side Lincoln City, currently 5th in League One, four points behind Birmingham City if that gives you some perspective. Once you reach this stage of the competition the potential financial rewards are great. In recent years when we have faced Bristol Rovers, Bradford City and Peterborough we have always been away, so overlooked by the television channels as not likely to be an upset (how wrong they were with Bristol Rovers!).
This time we all hoped that our home game will be looked upon as a good option for the television and the financial rewards that comes with. There was a huge amount of talk on social media and we were in fact told 48 hours before it was announced that we had been selected for the Monday night game on ITV4 – it was very hard to keep that quiet I can tell you, Chesham United live on free to view television? Amazing.
Behind the scenes you will have no idea of the amount of work that has been going on for the organisation of this match and I know you are all itching for information, please keep an eye out for messages and social media for details because we have a wonderful team working on all of the organisation and I could not be more proud of the work they are doing, but please bear with us as there is a lot to get right up front.
We are working on matchday arrangements, including allowing for tv crews, ticket allocation – making sure it is fair to season ticket holders and regular supporters and there is also a responsibility to ensure the health and safety of the supporters’ experience come matchday. We also have the curveball of the game being played on a Monday evening, at an earlier than usual kick-off, 7.15pm and what impact that has on the attendance and game day arrangements. It is possible that the crowd will be less than if it were a Saturday afternoon, but the television money does a good job of compensating for that.
The other thing that last Saturdays game (and other home matches this season in fairness) and the subsequent arrangements for Lincoln City, have highlighted is the reasons why we are so determined to move to a new purpose-built stadium in the Chesham area. The Meadow is a fantastic setting, holds so many memories (and always will), but the reality is that if we are ambitious about progressing as a club and being able to embrace the community on the scale that we have in recent weeks, then we really need the facilities to be able to do that, and unfortunately our current home does not allow that.
This town is capable of supporting, and deserves, a top-quality football club that can provide entertainment, exercise and a sense of belonging to a much wider audience, and I really believe we can achieve that. As well as all the FA Cup preparations (and Fireworks night just three days before the FA Cup match) we are still very much working on our application for the new ground, it is a long drawn out process, a lot of questions to answer and we are now also finalising the financial proposal, but it remains an important goal, and I maintain my promise to update everyone as soon as we have news to share.
One final mention must go to our management duo of James Duncan and Michael Murray. They recently passed 250 games in charge. We were bottom of the Southern League when they took charge with dwindling, unhappy, crowds. Look where we are today? They have been truly magnificent and whilst all the off-field activities have convinced me that this club can go further on the pitch JD and Muzza have shown that they can achieve so much more on the field if they have the right club infrastructure behind them.
It has been a good week at Chesham United, my thanks go out to everyone who has been a part of it. Tomorrow, we travel to Weymouth for another league match, I hope many of you make the journey and give the team your usual fantastic support.
