Taken from the programme for the visit of Ashton Athletic, available on the gate, £2

As we reach the end of another season I would like to reflect on yet another year of progress for our football club.  

Today is the without a doubt the most important game the first team has had since we won promotion on the last day of our first season in the NWCFL (see picture below!).  To go into this game still in with a good chance of staying up, looked to be extremely unlikely half way through the season when we were 10 points from safety and in the process of appointing a new management team.  Our thanks and best wishes for today’s game therefore go to Dave, his coaching team and the players for getting us into this position, knowing one more good performance could see the Great Escape become a reality.  

The development of women’s football at the club over the last two years has been the envy of clubs both regionally and probably nationally. Guided by Rob McKay and delivered by Caddy, Nathan, coaches and players, the 1xi remain unbeaten and have already won their league and our development team need to win tomorrow to win theirs in their first season. With exciting developments in progress including the creation of a Wildcats centre for young girl players, the club is immensely proud of this progress and I would like to put on record our thanks to everyone involved in this success.  

As you will see today is our Junior takeover day, a chance for us all to welcome and thank our junior players and coaches. It took a lot of hard work and time to merge with Oswald Rd to create our junior section, but this is now paying off big time. It is fantastic for everyone at the club to see our young players increasing in numbers and trips to finals and gaining promotion becoming the norm, whilst always maintaining the  philosophy of providing football for all. In addition, the number of families and children from the juniors who watch the First team is appreciated and contributes to all of our match day experience.  

None of the above would be possible without the support of the ever increasing numbers of volunteers. From the Committee, with their 250 plus years’ involvement in the club, through to coaches, gatemen, announcers, bar staff, raffle ticket sellers etc. my personal thanks goes to you all, as without you the club could simply not function.   

And finally to all our spectators, THANK YOU for supporting us in ever increasing numbers, for buying into our desire to become a true community club, for supporting our efforts to help people who are disadvantaged and for making us one of the best supported Step 5 clubs in the country.  

Whatever the result today, I hope everyone has a great Summer break and we hope to see you all back for pre-season friendlies in July.  

Take Care 

Glyn Meacher