| Chairman's Christmas Statement | ||||
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 IT HAS been a massive year of change at St Albans City FC. Following the club’s relegation from Conference South after being deducted points for financial irregularities, new owners in Lawrence Levy and John McGowan took over with the intention of restoring some pride to the club.I believe that in six short but busy months, they have gone a long way towards succeeding. Clarence Park is now a more welcoming place, its facilities improved. The mood around the club has improved and the Supporters Trust have re-engaged with the management board to provide admirable financial and moral support. We have also worked hard to rebuild links with the community and increase our profile in the city as we also re-establish our relationship with St Albans City Youth. We are also improving sponsorship and links with the business community. On the field, we have been rebuilding gradually under a new manager in David Howell, who has shown a calm authority in assembling a squad and amending it as and when needed. The reserve team under Franco Sidoli has gone from strength to strength and we also have a highly promising top-of-the-table midweek youth team run by Graham Golds and James Gray doing us proud. First-team results through the Autumn were not what we had always hoped for, it has to be admitted, but two excellent 3-0 wins in recent weeks have given us new hope that we can still make the end-of-season play-offs. Clearly we would dearly love to sustain that winning run over Christmas and the New Year, starting with the attractive Boxing Day derby against Chesham United, play-off contenders themselves. We would love to see as many supporters at Clarence Park for the 1pm kick-off as possible, knowing that a good crowd in impressive voice can play a big part in results, and will look to reward you all with an attacking display to dust off the festive cobwebs. At this time, I would like to thank all those supporters for sticking with the club during what has been a difficult year. Attendances have even been up on last season, despite the move into the Evo-Stik Southern League, which illustrates the encouraging goodwill that remains for the club. As we continue to improve the club on and off the field, we hope that as well as our regulars, we might find more occasionals returning to the Park, with newcomers tempted along too. Perhaps you know of someone you could bring along on Monday lunchtime. In the meantime, a very happy Christmas to all our fans and a prosperous New Year that we hope will contain some entertaining and winning football for you. Ian Ridley |
