Welcome To The Yate Town FC Supporters Club Website





Latest News: Richard Thompson and Lee Barlass The Supporters Club wish to record their thanks and appreciation to Richard Thompson and Lee Barlass for their outstanding contribution to the club over the past eight years, which has been the most successful period in the club’s history, with two promotions, two GFA Cups and a League Cup. For a club of our size and resources that is an impressive record by any standards. These achievements, and the attractive football that delivered them, owed much to the tireless efforts of Thommo and Lee on behalf of the club, not just in terms of performances on the pitch, but also the behind the scenes work in watching matches pretty much every night, and the continuous efforts involved in bringing new players to the club. In addition, Thommo’s contacts at clubs such as Bristol Rovers, Forest Green Rovers and Newport County meant that we were able to sign quality players that might not have been available to other managers. All Yate Town fans are grateful for what Thommo and Lee have done for the club, and despite our current lowly league status, Thommo has left us in a much better position than when he took over as manager in 2001/02. Sadly, recent results and performances have let him down, and the committee felt that this was the right time for a change. Hopefully, this brave decision will be rewarded by us avoiding relegation. David Mogg, you’ve got some big shoes to fill, but you have our full support and we wish you the best of luck. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Membership fees Membership fees for the 2008/09 season are now due. We have frozen the fees at last year’s prices of £5 for adults, and £2 for children and OAPs. Please could all members get payment to Mark Roddan as soon as possible. Cheques should be made payable to Yate Town F.C. Supporters Club. One or two people have asked what they will get for their money, but this question really misses the point about supporting your local non league team. We’re not Manchester United, so we can’t offer you free T shirts or Yate Town pencil cases and the like if you join us. What we can guarantee, however, is that the money that we raise will be spent on improving the club both on and off the field, so as supporters we all benefit. To paraphrase John F Kennedy, ask not what your club can do for you – ask what you can do for your club ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Annual General Meeting The Annual General Meeting of the Supporters Club will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 22nd September, in the clubhouse. We would like to see as many people as possible attend this meeting, which will select the officers and committee, as well as agreeing events and priorities for the coming season. Nominations for officers or committee members should be advised to any officer. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jake Reid We are pleased to report that the Supporters Club have funded the recent loan signing of Jake Reid. We were approached last week by Thommo, who wanted to take the opportunity to strengthen the side, but had no further funds available from the football club to do so. This is exactly the kind of situation that the Supporters Club want to support. We cannot, at this stage in our development, commit to consistent funding to support the team, but we can offer financial support to enhance the playing budget over short term periods where it is really needed and our funds allow it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loan to Football Club – February 2008 When the Supporters Club was formed in the summer it was difficult to predict how successful we would be, and how much money we might raise, so we agreed that we would not spend any of the money that we raised until 2008, when we would review the situation. We are delighted that we have now raised in excess of £1,500 from our various activities, and the committee met in early February to discuss what we could do with the money. It was agreed unanimously that we would loan £1,500 to the Football Club, interest free, to be repaid over the next 12 months. This is because the club are currently experiencing a cash flow shortfall largely caused by lack of matchday income due to recent postponements, and the vagaries of a fixture list that is devoid of attractive fixtures on key holiday dates. Some of you may be wondering why we loaned the money rather than just giving it to the football club. After all, the Supporters Club is in existence to help the Football Club. The reason for this is that the primary aim of the Supporters Club is to “generate income to create contingency support to the playing budget and for capital development of YTFC”. This means that the money that we raise must be used to improve the club both on and off the field by doing things that enhance what the club already does, and simply giving money to the club does not meet with this aim. We are working with the Football Club to identify a long term target for the Supporters Club that is consistent with our aims. This target will give us something to strive towards and focus our future activities, and will be something that members and other supporters can see as a real benefit once it has been delivered. Naturally, the money that the Football Club repay will go towards this target, as one way or another all the money that we raise goes to help the Football Club. We hope to be in a position to announce more details soon.