Winterton Rangers
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Winterton Rangers
FOOTBALL CLUB
Winterton Rangers FC will be working
hard during the offseason as they look
to win their league next time around.
Football Focus Magazine recently caught
up with Director and CEO Richard Smales
to find out more about the club.
He told us, “I have been involved at Winterton
Rangers since August last year, having spoken to the
directors at the club I put together a proposal to take the
club forwards and they duly agreed it was in the best
interests of the club to hand over control to new and
younger fresh blood.”
“The biggest attraction to Winterton Rangers
was the huge unearthed potential to take
the club up the leagues, the facilities
are excellent (I advise anyone
who hasn’t been to come and
check it out for yourself) as we
have a stadium that would
comfortably pass ground
grading to play at least
three leagues above our
current position. It is well
documented the time and
effort that has been put in
place over the last twenty
years to reach this high
standard of facility, now it’s
about matching this level on
the pitch!
“A challenge for all non-
league clubs is the attraction to
generate revenue and sponsorship,
it is the life blood of clubs at our level.
Personally, for me it’s an area I have been
involved in for many years now, having worked at
a number of professional clubs over the years it’s no
longer a challenge but more of a hobby I enjoy going
into meetings, building partnerships, opening up new
sponsorship opportunities and meeting new people.
“The obvious reward comes when you have those
bad weeks and consider your reasoning why you ever
got involved in the first place, then the lads go out and
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play with huge amounts of passion, pride and come
away with a win against all odds.
“The club is buzzing at the minute, yes it was
disappointing to miss out on promotion this season
however we are now gearing up for a huge summer
and with the aim to win the league! Promotion is key
for the club; we have a very good squad and with
a few quality additions we won’t be too far
away of reaching our long term goals.
Securing FA Cup football for next
season was huge, a good run in
this competition will bring in
substantial amounts of extra
revenue as does the FA Vase.
“Youth football is a topic
of discussion which is under
review; if the senior team
is to progress we need the
support from the juniors.
We have plans in place to
discuss a way forward for
the youth section, it has to be
a win, win for us both and we
are positive that we can look to
build a plan of action to attract
the best possible local talent to the
club.
“More senior youth teams is also a
way forwards for us, building links with local
colleges and forming a ‘Development Squad’ again will
help put in place an active end goal for each junior player
coming through the ranks.
“The local community plays a large part in how
the club operates, most recently we have made some
big changes behind the scenes which will allow for
even more community engagement to take place at the
facility. The more people that come through and use/see