Good evening and welcome to the newly named R Costings Abbey Stadium for the first home pre-season friendly of the season against Blackburn Rovers. If it's your first visit then don't forget we have two more exciting games coming up against a West Ham and Liverpool XI.

It's fair to say defeat for the second consecutive year at Wembley was a bitter pill to swallow for all, but now is not the time to look back in disappointment but focus on our future. That's exactly what has been going on from the very second the final whistle blew on May 18th and will continue to be the case until this club is where it needs to be.

Backed by my fellow directors, staff and the supporters I am committed to creating a culture of stability, consistency and sustainable progress at the club and am both determined and confident in equal measure we will achieve our goals. I will not rest until we have done so. If we all pull in the same direction it will be a lot easier; something which hasn't happened anywhere near enough in recent times.

In Gary Brabin we have an eager, young and ambitious manager who, backed by Paul Carden in their first full season, did a tremendous job in getting us to within 90 minutes of promotion. I am confident we have the management team in place who will once again see us challenging at the right end of the table and fighting to reclaim our place back in the Football League.

This close season has been a lot less eventful than last, when we saw a high turnover of staff from the playing side of the business, including the manager. It is almost impossible for a club to progress and thrive amongst such regular upheaval and turmoil. The last 12 months of stability should act as a solid foundation for us to move forwards.

I am sure you have all read in the papers about the reduction to our playing budget for the upcoming season. In the current economic climate it's essential to cut our cloth accordingly and despite the adjustment we are confident we have provided Gary and Paul with a competitive budget which will see them able to deliver success for the club and its fans.

Most other clubs in the Blue Square Premier have reduced their budgets too and as long as I am chairman we will not gamble with the future of the club and will operate in a culture of financial prudence.

The culture of stability on the pitch is mirrored off it as the backroom team has been boosted by a number of new arrivals over the summer, among them Will Jones who is a familiar face to most fans joining as PR & Marketing Executive to assist Gary Atyes in his role as Business Development Manager.

We are in the process of overhauling and upgrading the systems in the offices, which, along with the passion and drive of our staff will see us heading in the right direction.

Finally, I would like to offer a warm welcome to Sam Allardyce and his Blackburn Rovers team. I am sure they will provide some very strong opposition this evening and I hope come the final whistle you will have all enjoyed a terrific game of football.

All the best,

George

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