goole
Polish and Russian Community in
Goole, where we hope to unearth a ‘little
gem’.
Given our limited budget, we are
working towards a top half finish, which
given our circumstances and upheaval,
we will consider to be a success. Also
high up on our agenda, is to win a cup
tie. In the years I’ve been watching
Goole, I have never seen them win one!”
Youth
“Youth development has never
been
important
under
previous
managements. However, since the
Supporters Cooperative assumed the
mantle, we have already agreed with an
U19 team to play under the Goole AFC
banner. We are now in talks with other
clubs, and hopefully in the course of this
year we hope to build a structure that
will serve the club over the forthcoming
years.
As a Cooperative, our future depends
on our youth teams, and the players that
we can bring on. We are also looking
to embrace and consolidate the various
female (both youth and open-age) teams
that are operating in the Goole area.
Budgetary constraints have forced
us to concentrate on local players, who
initially, may not have the skills but will
almost certainly have the passion and
pride of playing for their local club and
their mates.”
Ambitions
“Our number one ambition is to be
solvent at the end of this year, and to
avoid relegation. If we can achieve these
targets our local council has agreed to
extend our current lease (which has
seven years to run) to a period that will
give us security i.e. 25-30 years. Such a
lease will enable us to apply for various
grants to grow the club.
Within five years, we hope
to have achieved Evostick
Premier status, a 3G pitch,
built a comprehensive team
structure
encompassing
teams of various ages
(male and female) and
started to redevelop
the ground into
a
community
stadium.”
Challenges
“One of the biggest challenges
we will face moving forwards will be
spiralling wage costs. Even in our league,
the North East Counties Premier, the 5th
tier of Non-League, some of the clubs
are setting off with budgets in excess
of £2000 per week. Total madness.
Because we will have strict
financial controls in place, the
money available for players
will be severely limited,
and so we may lose some
of our ‘better’ players
who
think
they
are worth more.
www.footballfocusmag.com
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