Cambridge United Chairman Paul Barry has spoken to cambridgeunited.com and comments on the pre-season and some of the work that has gone behind the scenes in the last year.
Paul writes:
As I'm sure is the case with all of you, I am really looking forward to the new season. In the past year the new Board, working closely with the staff and volunteers, have progressed the club forward. A variety of steps have been made in the right direction to put the club on a sounder business, commercial and playing footing.
In Martin Ling we have an astute manager, one with experience of player development and working within a limited budget. In giving Martin a three year contract, the Board realised an infrastructure needed to be developed that gives the greatest chance of success on the pitch in a financially sensible way. In the Board's opinion, too many times do football clubs react to short term downturns in first team fortunes without an eye on the longer term development of the club. Within Cambridge United, those changes have happened with a growing and close relationship between Martin and Jez George, who is in charge of football affairs at the club. Their work together has set up consistent training facilities for both the youth and first teams, strength and conditioning regimes and we have now welcomed John Schofield to the coaching staff at the Club as the final piece of the jigsaw.
It is no secret that there are clubs within our league that try to buy success. Martin and Jez have worked together on a budget for the first team and the development squad to allow the enhancement of the existing developing players at the club. In many clubs, younger players just make up numbers, often with little chance of making the first team. With our unique setup, the results have been different with starters already in our senior squad and several more former scholars pushing for first team spots. In future years with such a younger squad, we can expect improvements year on year and continue to achieve the right balance between youth and experience.
Behind those scholars, there has been expansion and improvements in our development setup and we currently run 20 centres within a 60 mile radius of Cambridge. Our breadth and quality of development has been exciting to track from its inception just four years ago.
On the community front, the setting up this year of the Cambridge United Youth & Community Trust, with trustees Richard Smith, Jim Hill and Graham Daniels, puts Cambridge United's brand at the forefront of a scheme which aims to play a positive part in the lives of 10,000 youngsters a year. With its charitable status, the Trust links football with education and healthy ways of living. Football binds many of us together, not just the 3000+ that attend matches but including their families, colleagues and friends.
Jez' passion for football was shown by his Walk for Change in May of this year. In Walking 410 miles to highlight the inequity in youth development funding, he has played no small part in the Conference now receiving, via the Premier League, 800k a year in support for youth development. This club and all the others in the Conference owe Jez thanks for his tireless work in this cause.
On the commercial side, we started the year stronger than last with headline partnerships with Greene King and R Costings and have worked on improving commercial deals throughout the year. Recent improvements have seen Archant Media join us in an exciting deal which will see Cambridge First appear on the back of our shirts, Tyrell and Company as the Family Stand Sponsors as well as one of our long term sponsors Kershaws who are continuing as Away Shirt sponsors.
With the refurbishment and improvements in the Dublin Suite over the year, we have seen a steady increase in the number of individuals and organisations taking out match day hospitality packages with the Club. Indeed towards the end of last season the Dublin Suite was fully booked on a number of occasions.
From a catering point of view inside the ground, we have entered into a new commercial contract with JB Catering to provide an enhanced menu in all of the tea-bars. As a Club we have invested money to upgrade the electrical capacity of each tea bar to enable new equipment to be fitted which will mean all the food being freshly cooked on site. The feedback from supporters for the two home pre-season matches on the enhanced menu and food has been really positive and we are continually striving for ways to improve the services on offer to supporters on match days.
We have a new shirt provider in Errea and shall be taking the club shop back under the club's control. The refurbishment of the club shop is nearly complete which has been achieved through the hard work of several volunteers and the support of local businesses. This project has been led by fans director Colin Proctor. I am sure you will all be pleased at the results.
Claudine Long has succeeded Gary Atyes in the Commercial Department and guided by Gareth Baldwin as our Commercial Consultant, we are confident that partnering with Cambridge United will offer excellent benefits to your business. Our upcoming sponsor's night on Thursday 5 August will showcase opportunities for working with Cambridge United in the coming season and beyond. We hope to see as many sponsors there as possible.
The R Costing Abbey Stadium is now over 50 years old. Ian Darler has been around for 30 of those years and has, along with his staff and volunteers, maintained the ground extremely well. Ian has won the FA Groundsman of the Year Award recently, to be presented to him on the pitch at the first home game of the season, but the work Ian, his staff and volunteers do behind the scenes frequently goes unnoticed.
Our site is 6+ acres of land and buildings which requires a tremendous amount of upkeep. In conjunction with putting on 25 first team matches a year and more than 25 CRC games. It all gets achieved on a constrained budget. As a club, we are fortunate to have someone of Ian's expertise.
As we all recall in March, the announcement was made that we were to have a new landlord. Since this announcement, the Club has made great efforts to work with Grosvenor Developments. Their goal of finding a new stadium for Cambridge United and the manner in which they have worked with us, both on communication and finances, is one that is very pleasing to see. They are committed to engage with not just the Club, but its fans and the local community in the process. It is early days yet, and there will be many hurdles and challenges to overcome. However, it is a very positive step forward and one that could herald an extremely bright future for the Club. We will be celebrating our centenary soon and we want to lay the foundations now that will ensure the Club will still be here, prospering, for the next 100 years as well.
Within the club offices, the Board has worked with General Manager Robert Smith to set up clearer processes for the management of the day to day business. Supported by Claire Osbourn, Will Jones, and several volunteers, along with new club secretary Lisa Baldwin, there is a great team work evident in the offices. From the Board perspective, we now have clearer reporting lines, and more transparent and up to date financial reporting which is vital for any business. As a Board, we are defining roles and limits on responsibilities for ourselves as Board members and club officials. It is a part of better governance for the club which should continue on beyond when current Board members tenure expires.
As a final note there have been numerous people who help out the club frequently in a variety of ways, either through their professional expertise, their labour, or providing services to the club at close to, or no cost. They are too many to mention, but it is part of the fabric that makes our club so special and one that has created the best feeling around the club in many years. Thank you all.
Enjoy the season!
Paul Barry
Chairman
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