Today we meet Morecambe FC, can I wish their new Directors, Manager and long suffering supporters the warmest of welcomes to the Mangata Developments Stadium and a safe journey home.
Well, it’s fair to say we’ve started the season in the manner we’d all perhaps hoped for and as I said in my last programme notes, any fears I might have had in regard to us not being competitive within the division were minimised within the first two weeks. Our last two games have seen us travel away to Hartlepool United and Sutton United and though we didn’t quite take the points our performances deserved, it has shown me again that after half a dozen games it’s time for our whole club to look up and picture what can be achieved with a tad more investment, ambition and belief.
Now is not the time for us to fear failure by looking down, now is the time to look forward, look up and ensure we do not stand still. Since our relegation two seasons ago and our subsequent promotion I have, as you are aware, been looking to build our future off the park, whilst asking Luke and Charlie Hunter to put together a slightly younger, more mobile and more competitive squad in key areas.
Put simply, after being battered 4-0 at Maidstone United last season, we all knew it was sink or swim time and we accepted that we needed to change mindsets, shape, add positivity, more legs, nous and more energy into our starting Xl, and perhaps get rid of some older negativity by lowering our average age.
In the summer after going up we needed to add more quality to the squad and further additions as the days of a 16 man squad are over and we knew we would need competition for places in all areas. As the gaffer and Charlie got on with their recruitment, I got on firstly with improving the budget and secondly along with my architect Paul Beech, completed my stadium visuals, designs, build spec regarding the South Stand and away fan zone and got ourselves to the planning stage.
All of which means I can, with people’s support, get our stadium and facility built and up to EFL standard by late September 2026. That said, there is no point in me producing further investment, for a stadium and facility with all the community add-ons that’s up to EFL standard, if the team are still a mile away from getting close to the play-offs.
So, it’s now down to myself, Luke, Charlie, my loyal staff, dressing room and partners, to get on with marrying up what are two very big projects. One is all about recruitment and the other incorporates a rather large project build.
Both are equally as important as the other, but the building blocks for both are now quietly being put in place and that means we are well on the way to achieving the progress and impetus, that I knew I would need to justify any further personal investment. When I first walked through the door back in 1999, I dreamt of one day building this town a four stand, four-sided stadium, but in truth I was just 36 years of age and perhaps dreaming a tad too big?
When I do occasionally look back at my old designs, those small stands I once felt were going to be so impressive were nothing more than pre-fabricated tin stands that seat around 200 to 300 that you see at most lower level non-league grounds. Those tin type stands are everywhere nowadays and though they are functional, they are as ugly as sin…. experience though has now taught me so much and I know that my type of ground upgrades and projects can take me a lifetime to build, so sorry about that haha.
That said, I now hope to deliver to you, to our residents, to our town and community something far, far better than I could ever have imagined back in 1999. In truth it’s why I need to keep hammering home my stadia improvement message to HBC through my programme notes. Why? Because my planning submission now sits with the Planning Officers and now needs across the board support and my partners now need to seize the opportunity in front of of us.
It was not always easy to dream big around here or even think big when we sat within the Southern Eastern Division, Ryman North Division or Ryman Premier League. Not when our crowds back then were minimal and we only had 150 to 200 supporters at best watching us even on a good day.
In truth some of my family and friends even found my ambition amusing or bemusing with most doubting me and that was a tad hurtful. Thankfully the doubters around me have now gone and their opposition to my investment has quietened a tad and I have bit by bit over the last 27 seasons somehow found a way to bring partners and sponsors onside while still making the step by step improvements needed.
As I write these notes, we now sit at non league football’s top table once again and I hope we are getting ourselves ready to go the final furlong over the coming years. To do that I’ll still need the doubters, my family, my loyal staff, you loyal fans, my partners and collaborators and the hard working people around me who trust to spur me on. In truth to even push for the EFL we’ll genuinely need all of our local partners like HBC, EBTC, AFC, AWFC, plus the Football Foundation, Stadia Improvement Fund, our sponsors and more recently local companies like Griggs and Mangata to stay with us.
To find a way forward for this football club, I feel we will always need a local Chairman, need local Councillors, need the HBC Executive and of course we’ll need great partners and cross party support. If we can add to a growing support base and add to our ‘old school’ supporters who have been patient and given me the time to put in our building blocks……. Then trust me now is the time to push on and build the stadium, now is the time to invest in and reboot the dressing room.
2026 is the year to complete something not only very special but something worth waiting for and something I’ve given most of my life to…. Future proofing has always been a difficult balancing act but it was a necessary evil for me to ensure I did not neglect the clubs infrastructure, processes, procedures, checks and balances.
It’s why I’ve always tried to make realistic decisions based on personal investment, outside investment, partner involvement and on improving things both on and off the field of play, but always with one eye on the future.
As I’ve said for more than 25 years, I’ve been very fortunate to have had great staff, great players, great managers, loyal friends, great partners and so many willing collaborators, and even when the finances were tight, it was only through good decision making, a bit of luck and good managers making our teams hard to beat, did we even begin to create the club, the facility and the infrastructure that you see today.
This season we have improved our first team budget once again and that means we went looking for a more expansive type player and football team. That said we could only do that because Wrexham won promotion last season and we received some financial remuneration from our Jacob Mendy sale to them. We were also very happy that Sorba Thomas was sold in this transfer window, as we are to receive a reasonable sell on fee from his sale from Huddersfield Town to Stoke City.
Those two unexpected windfalls have allowed us to be more proactive this summer, as we looked at a slightly different player profile and it means we’ve brought in the quality of Jeff King, Joe Newton, Aaron Henry, Junior Dixon, Luke Norris, Tom White, Zak Brunt, Lewis Richardson and Fin Herrick to add to what was already a very talented squad that we began putting together at the beginning of last season.
I’m too long in the tooth to be making silly predictions on what might lay ahead for us after just half a dozen games. Nor would I put myself, Luke or the club under pressure by being another one of those silly voices on social media like some other owners and Chairmen I could name. Thankfully for you guys, it means you only have to hear my messaging where they cannot be misconstrued or misinterpreted, which means me sticking to my ‘old school’ programme notes, an occasional club interview or being part of a simple fans Q and A.
In truth I’m more comfortable with those mediums as it suits my personality but still allows me to reach out to the supporters and people I care about. All I ask this season from my family, friends and our supporters both old and new, is that you turn up both home and away whenever you can and when you do, bring with you a positive disposition.
When on your socials please try to keep your messaging positive (which isn’t always easy straight after a game) especially if we’ve underperformed and finally I ask that you understand our fan base is still not huge, yes it is growing but please stay realistic as our fan base growth will be relevant in the years ahead.
At this level we are by definition still very much an underdog club, and by anyone’s standards we are judged by having one of the lowest fan base in the division and if that’s the reality of where we must start the next phase of our journey. So let’s embrace it, lets enjoy it, let’s bloody a few noses this season and let’s find new ways to grow ourselves.
For me our future must lay in our togetherness, lay in us building on our commercial success, on increasing our sponsorship portfolio and lies in me completing the ground improvements like we have been doing each and every season for more than two decades.
Our future must rely on us not ever turning in on each other when things go belly up at times, which you never did when we were relegated just two seasons ago so once again a big thank you to one and all. In truth I truly believe we only got promoted just a year later because you all stuck with me and allowed me to block out the wider noise and make good on my promotion promises.
Our future together now lies in me building the club as if we are already in the EFL, in keeping the many partnerships I’ve built over the last 25 years in place and in keeping the long standing collaborations with AFC, AWFC, HBC and EBTC bubbling.
Our playing future must also rely on us increasing our commercial activities, increasing our revenue streams, increasing our crowds and finding those additional sponsorship opportunities wherever they present themselves.
Our opponents today are Morecambe FC and they certainly do not need a business lesson from me after the way their club and supporters have been treated in recent years by an imposter of an owner who clearly should NEVER, NEVER, NEVER have passed the fit and proper director and owners test, as overseen by the inimitable Rick Parry and the EFL………that said, please don’t start me off again about Mr Rick Parry haha.
It just leaves me to say, I’m very pleased Morecambe Football Club and their loyal fans are here as our guests today. You are all most welcome and this is the first time our two clubs have ever played each other. We hope after your summer from hell, you can now look to the future with optimism when all had perhaps seemed lost just a month ago.
We can all see there is a long way to go for Morecambe FC and their supporters, but I’m sure they would say any successful onward journey has to start somewhere and I hope theirs began when they beat Altrincham 2-1 just a few short weeks ago.
Anyway, back to today, let’s hope for an open attacking game and may the best team win.
Take care,
Danny.
Proposed development: South Stand
