Hello all and welcome to our long delayed Winter/Spring Update!
First of all I’d like to take a moment to apologise for the delay in getting this update out to you all. Originally I did have an early draft ready to go out in early January, however for numerous reasons, it would end up getting pushed back and then ultimately re-written.
Here we are at last though, and I’m delighted to be bringing you what will be the final ever ‘Green Army’ update – as going forward, we’ll be completely rebranding to ‘Spartans Trust’ following the acceptance of our application to the FSA (Football Supporters Association) to be come a fully fledged Supporters Trust, following approval from the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) last week.
The process certainly took a bit longer than I had originally expected and I had to go back and forwards once or twice when it came to sorting a few details out, and the goalposts were moved a few times due to issues with previous ownership – but we’re finally fully signed and sealed. As a result of that, all current members can expect to get some correspondence in the coming weeks about our first ever AGM – which should be taking place sometime in May. So keep your eyes peeled for a lot more information on that soon.
To touch on the rebrand for a moment, the move from ‘Green Army’ to ‘Spartans Trust’ is something that’s been brewing since last summer in all honesty. With us becoming a trust and becoming a bit more professional and such, I thought it might be wiser to rebrand and more or less start a fresh. The original Green Army was formed by a group of 15/16 year old lads way back in 2010, and I can truly say I’m immensely proud of what we’ve achieved across the last 15 years or so.
However, with a democratically elected Supporters Trust, there’s a very good chance that in a few years that myself (Dan Rolls), Pieface (Dan Haldane) and others may not be involved in the running of the trust (3 year term limits would also dictate that). So instead of carrying on doing things the way we’ve done for years, I felt as though it would be wiser to create a fresh identity/image as we move forward in this his new era.
So at the end of April, you’ll see the new ‘Spartans Trust’ social media pages shared about. On top of that, the website will also be getting a bit of a rebrand. As for the current social media channels, they’ll be changed to the ‘Green Army Podcast’ – which will allow for the return of the pod, that will be completely independent of the football club and the supporters trust.
One final note on memberships for this season, I appreciate that membership cards/pin badges still need sorting. Obviously with the long wait for our money from the card provider last summer and then this rebrand to Spartans Trust having been waiting in the wings since November time, I thought it would be wiser to wait until said name change was completed to get that sorted – so you can expect those by the end of the month (providing Matty Justice finishes the design for the pin badge of course). As well as that, all of the founder members who signed up this season will have their names added to a ‘founders wall’ at Croft Park – as a thank you for the support and trust you’ve shown myself and all the people who’ve been involved with the Green Army over the years.
Before we get onto discussing future plans and ambitions for next season though, I’d like to take a moment or two to say thank you to each and everyone of you for the support you’ve shown the club in recent months, both on the terraces and financially. The 1899 Club is now at record levels, and hopefully on course to generate well north of £20,000 across the next 12 months or so – while the GoFundMe smashed passed the £25,000 target last week.
It’s difficult to put into words just how vital the GoFundMe donations and the various other bits of fundraising you’ve helped with over the last few months alone have been. In short, you’ve played an enormous role in securing the future of this famous old football club and on a personal note from myself, I can’t thank you all enough for what you’ve done to help the club. Regardless of whether you’ve hoyed in £5 or £500 – I think I speak for everyone at the football club when I say we’ll be forever grateful for the role you’ve played in ensuring this club lives to fight another day.
Regarding some feedback I’ve had from a few supporters though, I fully understand the desire to learn a bit more about the clubs current debt levels. Supporters deserve to have a clear picture of the clubs financial situation, and I can assure you that will be presented to you all at the next quarterly meeting in May.
Looking ahead to next season and the longer term future though, I think it’s safe to say after the last 6 seasons we’ve endured – we’re all yearning for a positive campaign next season. As you’ll likely have seen already, behind the scenes plenty of work is taking place to ensure that we start next season off on the strongest possible footing. While it’s only fair to wait for the clubs next Quarterly Update to share the full extent of that work, I will say for now that a lot of people are putting in a huge amount of hours in at the moment.
In terms of developments in and around Croft Park, you may have seen that the planning permission for the new floodlights has been approved. Former Vice Chairman Kevin Scott has leant his expertise and experience to help get that sorted, and I’m led to believe we’ll also finally be getting a new tannoy system! On top of that, thanks to some more grants, we should hopefully see the changing rooms and some of the office space be getting a bit of a face lift as well. The Social Cub should also be receiving a fresh coat of paint throughout June.
I’d expect by now a fair few of you would have noticed the blue container opposite the club store that’s been there for a few months. For those of you who haven’t heard, that container is actually a food container, meaning that from next season, we’ll finally be able to offer our own in-house food – which is something many of us have campaigned for over the last 5 years. Both Mark Peart and Peter Henderson have already been in to give it a deep clean on their own time, and while it still needs some electrical work done, it’s expected to be up and running in time for pre-season. Rather than using cheap and frozen stuff though, the idea is to use fresh stock and supplies from local butchers etc – which should finally get us in the good books with Footy Scran! Most importantly though, it means we’ll be able to support Blyth based and other locally based business, while offering supporters a high standard of catering, which is a win-win.
In terms of plans for the Spartans Trust over the next few months or so, the responsibility of managing the club store will fold into the trust much like it was in the days of the old Supporters Club – as both Anthony Seghini and Ian Hertwick will be involved with the trust’s committee, on an interim basis at the very least. Personally I’m thrilled to have them involved – given their years of experience and unbound wisdom on all things Blyth Spartans. The club store will also give us a central location to sell memberships and pay for things like away travel and tickets for events etc.
We also expect to assume responsibility for general matchday fundraising, such as the half time draw etc. While Sarah Mattocks and her programme hut will be remaining in place, we’ll also have a few committee members/volunteers going round to sell 50/50 tickets, as well as matchday programmes to give them a bit more of a push. We may even finally get a card reader sorted!
Doing all this means that supporter fundraising is a bit more centralised, and makes it easier to keep supporters in the loop RE how much money is being raised and donated to the football club – which really is the purpose of the trust. As every bit of profit raised from the store, away travel, sponsorship, events, memberships and any other fundraising that’s done will be going into the football club’s coffers.
As the new financial year is upon us and our AGM will of course be just around the corner, our membership’s for the 2025/26 season are now open for sale.
Given the increased responsibilities the trust will take on next season and over the coming years, the list of perks you receive when joining the trust has massively increased – a full list of which you can see below.
- 1) A democratic ‘one member, one vote’ role in the Trust’s decision making, including the ability to vote at the annual Spartans Trust AGM
- 2) The right to stand for election to the Spartans Trust board yourself
- 3) Priority access to tickets for ‘all ticket’ games
- 4) Discounted and priority away travel
- 5) Free/discounted and priority access to events
- 6) Vote for the Spartans Trust Player of the Month
- 7) Invation to quarterly Spartans Trust meetings
- 8) Vote for the 2026/27 away shirt
- 9) Opportunity to purchase exclusive merchandise
- 10) Exclusive members pin badge
- 11) Entry into season ticket draw (summer 2025)
- 12) Entry into draw for signed shirt (summer 2025)
- 13) Access to Blyth Spartans AFC/Spartans Trust published accounts and other relevant documents
- 14) Access to Spartans Trust meeting minutes
- 15) Entry into monthly match ticket giveaway
- 16) Entry into monthly draw for free away travel
- 17) Membership card
- 18) Entry into quaterly draw for signed matchball
- 19) Invitations to member only events
- 20) Opportunity to take part in member only consultations, surveys and feedback forms
For those of you who are still interested in becoming Lifetime Members, you can find more information on that here. As well as all the regular membership perks, you’ll also have your name added to a plaque that will be placed on the side of the Port of Blyth stand, where the names of all the lifetime members will feature.
Finally, one thing we’re adding this season is the chance to become a Corporate Member, as apposed to just seeking web adverts from local companies next season. This also gives any corporate member a few more perks, and gives companies a chance to be involved in a community-first organisation that aims to ensure the people of Blyth (and beyond) have a football club they can be proud to support. More information on that can be found here.
As a final world on next seasons memberships, I would like to stress that in reality, we need as many of supporters to get involved with the trust as possible – particularly when it comes to forming a committee and taking on volunteers. In a few years time, the trust will very likely be absorbing the shares off the entire CIC (91%), meaning the trust alone will one day become the football clubs only major shareholder.
If we’re going to be successful in running the football club to the best of our ability, we need to have supporters involved as much as possible – both for giving feedback and ideas, while also taking up roles in the running of the football club. Knowing a lot of the people within our fanbase, I’m more than confident we have enough people that are capable of stepping up and helping to make a real difference.
In terms of some upcoming events, the rearranged evening for our talk in with Brian Slane should be confirmed by the start of next week – so watch out for an email for confirmation on that. Though you’ll likely see some information on the website and social media as well.
Going forward we’ll be looking to host some more regular events at the Social Club, following the success of our ‘Evening with the 2014/15 cup run team’ and the ‘Evening with Peter Beardsley’. These events will generally be talk ins, comedy nights and sportsman’s dinners however – we’ll certainly be interested to get an idea of what kind of events supporters want to see going forward. Finally, the details of our next talk in should hopefully be finalised shortly – and it should be a big one!
And that should just about do it for now. Thank you very much for taking the time to read through this update and again, thank you for the support you’ve given us and the club this season. At times the last month have been rather taxing to say the least, but the support I’ve had from alot of you both online and in person has been invaluable.
If you have any questions you’d like to put forward, you know where to find me. If you don’t, feel free to email danrolls94@hotmail.com with any questions you have.
Cheers,
Dan Rolls
