Below you can find the notes from the football clubs Open Forum that took place on Thursday 15th May at the Clubhouse.
Minutes taken by Dan Hume.
Attendees from the board and management team – Kevin Miles (KM), Martin Trinder (MT), Peter Saleem (PS), Stephen Southern (SS), Paul Norvell (PN) and Dan Rolls (DR)
Other attendees who spoke – Clarke Carlisle (CC), Dr Mark Middling (MM) Linda Bush (LB), Colin Blackett (CB) and Kevin Scott (KS)
Apologies – Craig Richardson (CR), Shad Saleem (SS), Colin Myers (CM)
Forum opens at 7:02pm by DR, who thanks everyone for coming along and goes through the running order for the evening.
KS updates supporters on the construction of the new floodlights that’s currently underway. Explains the bulb capacity (LUX) is up to National League standard. Expected to save £1,200 a year on bulbs and roughly £3,500 a year on electricity.
KM thanks KS for his floodlight update, and presents his Quarterly Review, updating supporters on how the club faced up to its financial struggles, the appointment of a new manager, how the club plans to operate on a more sustainable financial footing going forward, new sponsorships, the thinking behind the pricing for next seasons matchday and season ticket prices, as well as a range of other updates.
A presentation from the club’s CFO Mark Middling (MM) then follows, who gives supporters a detailed breakdown of how the club’s turned around its finances, and how the forecasting for next season was thought out.
KM then reveals that Port of Blyth have agreed to become the new front of shirt sponsor and reveals the new home and away shirt. DR thanks Ian Hertwick for his hard work and the amount of time he’s put into the design.
PN then provided an update on the 1899 club, who he’s taking over from SG. 1899 club currently has 175 individual people signed up, taking 425 numbers in total. PN explained that he hoped to raise that to 500 numbers in total, which would generate £30,000 year. PN then discussed the updates to the 1899 club, with signing up online soon to become an option, and a tagline of “The friends of Blyth Spartans” was to be added to the 1899 club’s name. SG was also thanked for his efforts.
KM mentions that as well as the floodlights, the ground floor of the main stand will also be getting a renovation, thanks to council grants. New changing rooms will also be installed. The clubhouse is also set to get a refurbishment in June, with SS and a team of volunteers leading that. KM explained that the club wanted to be offer players the best facilities possible.
LB then updates supporters on the progress of the women’s team, and her expectations and targets ahead of the 2025/26 season. She also explains the women’s team will be financed via players paying subs. CC then follows up with a report on his progress setting up ‘Spartans In The Community’ and his plans for that in the near future.
KM presents the accounts from the 2023/24 season and briefly conducts the AGM that was left overdue by the previous ownership.
A quick break follows prior to the Q&A section.
Q) Is there any update to retained list?
KM) No, and we might not be one. The manager feels it’s a list of people like a shopping list it doesn’t mean anything. You can’t actually sign anybody until July 1st, so he feels like it pointless, and will only attract other teams to players he intendeds to keep.
Q) Do we know how many teams go up and play offs, and are we in Trophy or Vase?
DR) It will be the same format as last season, so 22 teams in the league with the champions going up automatically and a 4 team play off. We’ll also be entering the FA Trophy at the earliest round now.
Q) If you get a season ticket, can you get a discount at the bar? Say 10%?
DR) The season ticket offer for this year is already the best we’ve ever had. Offering a discount at the bar may not be viable, especially with the rising costs pubs and clubs are facing, but it’s something worth considering for the future.
Q) Blyth Town have already announced several players, as have others. We always seem to get updates and information out, be that on a matchday stuff or news about players and other club updates. With the lack of news on players so far, it looks like we’re doing nothing.
KM) As mentioned earlier, this is the managers decision. He simply doesn’t want to show his hand. We also have a new media team in place now, who know what is expected of them.
Q) Any news on pre-season friendlies?
KM) Yes, we do have some already arranged. Colin Myers is still finalising a few of those.
DR) We expect to have about 3/4 home games throughout the pre-season.
Q) With the reduction in season ticket prices, and the extra charge for seating abolished, can people still reserve the same seats? As some supporters have seat in the same place for a very long time.
DR) Yes you can still reserve the same seat you’ve always. The only change ahead of the new season is that you aren’t paying any extra to be seated – as nobody as this level does it.
Q) Why are some sides of the grounds still closed off? (referencing the closed off areas behind both dugouts).
CB) It’s just easier for me to manage. In previous seasons we’ve had issues were supporters had been walking up behind the dugouts and causing issues, especially with the away dugout.
Q) What’s happening with food for next season?
SS) Unfortunately the food container we’ve been sold needs some work done to the electronics. This is already being organised, and we hope to have this ready for the start of the pre-season.
DR) We should also add that we’ll be looking to use local suppliers and fresh produce when it’s up and running, to give supporters the best possible quality and give Blyth and Northumberland based firms local our business.
Q) When will season tickets be on sale?
DR) We’ll hopefully have them ready to go out very soon.
Q) Why are we playing a team (Shildon) in the same league as us again in pre-season? Like Stockton last year?
DR) We didn’t play Stockton in pre-season last year, and Shildon aren’t in the same league as us.
Q) Will we have a 3rd shirt season this season?
DR) We won’t be having a 3rd kit next season no; however Ian Hertwick has cooked up something very special – that we’ll hopefully be able to share closer to Christmas.
Forum closes at 8:57pm.