Hello all and welcome to Spartans Trust autumn update!
Following the AGM in early August, we’ve all been busy getting on with the regular yet various different tasks performed on a matchdays and behind the scenes, as well as cooking up some fresh ideas’ to help raise some income, boost the club’s profile and much more – all while representing the interests of supporters as best we can.
Before we get into the update though, I’d like to take the opportunity to quickly thank you for the support you’ve shown both the football club and the trust in the early stages of the season. The last two home games aside, we’ve had some of the best crowds this league has seen so far this season. On top of that, your support away from home has surpassed just about every opposition following we’ve seen at Croft Park this term.
On and off the pitch, we’ve certainly seen our fair share of ups and downs so far this season. From speaking to many of you on a match-day and elsewhere – as well as seeing what many of you say online on various social media platforms (or in same cases messages to myself), i’m acutely aware of a lot of the feedback and or concerns that have cropped up thus far this season.
I can ensure you now that at a board room level, that feedback is regularly shared with the rest of the CIC – be it positive or negative. For myself it may be tough going at times, but I’ll always do my upmost to ensure that you’re all represented as best as I can. Anyway, on with the update!
Upcoming Events
First up – we have our Launch Night for the classic 93/94 Viz home shirt replica, on Friday 21st November at the Clubhouse. You still have plenty of time to pre-order a shirt if you haven’t already, via the online store. As the relaunched shirt has been produced by Erreà, like most shirts previously, it’s recommended you buy a shirt 2 sizes above your normal size. You’ll also be able purchase a shirt on the night, provided we still have your size in stock!
On the night, artist Graham Dury has kindly offered to come down and ‘ruin’ your brand new shirt – as he’ll be drawing various characters on the shirts, in exchange for a £5 donation to the football club. Before I go on, I should say we’re incredibly grateful to Graham for giving up his time on the night, and to everyone who’s supported the club by purchasing one.
The following day on Saturday 22nd November – we’ll be hosting a Toy Drive at the clubhouse, in support of Operation Elf. Ran by a local charity (Community and Voluntary Action Blyth Valley) – Operation Elf is a project that collects funds and donations to provide toys and Christmas gifts for underprivileged children within the Blyth Valley area. We’re now entering into our second year backing this project, and it’s something we’re all proud to support.
Our support of Operation Elf contines two weeks later, as we host our second annual fundraising night, this time with Harry Dunn, Graham Fenton and the rest of the treble winning squad on Saturday 6th December – as we get together to celebrate the 20th anniversary of one of the club’s greatest ever seasons and hear some behind the scenes’ stories from Harry and the lads.
Tickets are still available here, which will include a shy’s pie and peas! Should tickets still be available come the night, they’ll be sold on the door. Hopefully though, we’ll sold out well before then though – so if you’re wanting to join us for a night of laughs (and probably plenty of drink) then you’ll likely need to get in quick.
In the new year, we’ll be welcoming Rob Lee to the clubhouse for a talk in on Friday 23rd January. Hosted by comedian Graham Foster, Rob will join us to discuss his rise through the ranks at Charlton Athletic, his legendary career at Newcastle United under Kevin Keegan, Ruud Gullit and Sir Bobby Robson, as well as his England career – in which he was capped over 20 times in the mid 90’s.
Tickets are still available for just £25 – while tables of 10 can also be purchased. Once again, shy’s pies and peas will be on offer. All the information you need for the night can be found here – while tickets can be purchased here. So if you’re looking to sort yourself a night out for the new year or get someone a Christmas present (physical tickets can be sorted upon request) then get booking, before they’re all gone!
As for other fundraising events that have been discussed at trust board meetings and with supporters on a matchday, we’ll be looking to host a Golf Day at some stage in the near future. A Texas Scramble event is likely the sort of event we’ll be looking to organise, but as none of us are really golfers – we’ll certainty be leaning on some of you for guidance on the matter.
Come the New Year, we’ll also be looking to book a few bands in at the clubhouse – something which hasn’t been a regular thing at the clubhouse for almost 15 years. Obviously this isn’t something that we expect to be a ‘money maker’ straight away – as attracting a regular crowd to see bands/singers at the clubhouse is something that will take time to build up significant interest. Even if we reach a stage in which we’re just breaking even on ticket sales – the clubhouse will still be generating income which will ultimately, still generate money for the football club.
As well as bands, some more regular events such as quiz nights, comedy nights and more will be coming in the New Year. Again, these likely won’t make a great deal of money in respect of ticket sales etc. However as long as we’re breaking even or close to doing so and the clubhouse is making money, then it’ll be worth doing – as well as being a good laugh.
Looking further into 2026 though, some plans for a beer festival (to coincide with a pre-season fixture) have also been discussed. It’ll take a while for us to put that together as we’ll be plotting over an entire weekend – and your feedback will vital in getting set up and running as best we can.
On top of that, we also have a few ideas for next seasons ‘Play on the Pitch’ come the summer. A few other suggestions and ideas are also being worked on top of that; but we’ll reveal that in when they’re ready.
Club Store
As well as the new selection of Viz shirts due to arrive shortly, a new batch of home shirts is also due to arrive shortly to supplement the batch of away shirts that have already arrived in recent weeks. If you’re still looking to pick one up for yourself, you can do so here. With Christmas now less than 2 months away, you could even add it to your Christmas list!
On that subject, our Christmas opening times for the club store will be confirmed and published in the coming weeks – as well as our last shipping date to guarantee delivery before Christmas. In terms of other new items in the club store, you’ll soon see the return of the Viz Christmas cards – as well as a Christmas jumper designed by Ian Hertwick. On top of that, the new training gear should also be arriving soon. Keep an eye out on the club’s social media pages and the online store for more updates on new products and stock in the coming weeks.
Spartans Sixes
One project we’ve been putting a bit of effort into lately is setting up a our own 6-a-side league on the 3G pitch at Croft Park – the training venue of the first team throughout the last 10 years.
While the finer details of the competition are still being worked out, the provisional plan is to have 16 teams competing in total, playing across 2 nights a week for 6 weeks – before moving onto a knockout round with a prize for the winning team at the end. This would start in January and conclude at the end of February. All teams would be guaranteed a minimum of 6 games, with the total entry for each team being £100. This works out at about £16.50 a game per team, which is a lot cheaper than some of the other competitions held by other businesses. Plus, all of the money (minus a few basic expenses) will be going into the football club.
The clubhouse will also hopefully be open when the games are on, so if you and a group of mates are wanting to get involved to have a laugh and even have a drink afterwards – or you want to kick the New Year off with a bit of a health kick while helping raise some money for the club, you’ll be welcome to join.
Keep your eyes out on the socials and website for more news on that shortly, once everything is in place and ready to go.
Away Travel
Unfortunately the slow progress on away travel this season has certainly been frustrating to see. While interest in away travel has been stalling since the turn of the year, it’s been a while since interest has dropped off so much. Not since the 2012/13 season when were so desperate to get an away bus on, we ended up on 16 seater to Frickley Athletic in January (which is an incredibly depressing sentence in every respect) has interest in away travel seemingly been so low.
That being said and jokes aside, I have spoken to many of you (especially the regulars) about the future of how we do away travel and what we need to work on going forward. Thankfully now though, having had a few discussions with many of you, a rough plan for away travel across the rest of the season is coming together.
Starting next month, we’ll be looking to organise a bus for Lincoln United (Saturday 15th November) or Bridlington Town (Saturday 29th November). Ideally we’d love to put a bus on for both games but realistically, we understand we’ll only be able to do the one. Come December, we’ll be looking to sort a bus on for Ashington on Boxing Day due to the lack of public transport available. January should also see us visit Redcar Athletic on Saturday 10th January – provided the interest is there for it.
Once again though, keep your eyes on the socials/website for more information on those in the next few weeks.
Social Media/Website Updates
As you’ve likely seen, we’re still holding off on switching over from the old ‘Green Army’ pages to the new and refreshed Spartans Trust pages across the 3 main social media channels. In truth, this has simply been down to us wanting to ensure that the various fundraising nights and new products have reached the biggest possible audience they can.
A proper ‘shift over’ will certainly be taking place before the end of the year and with any luck, it should be happening within the next few weeks. Beforehand though, we do need to make sure the website is as up to date as possible.
Due to time restrictions (and a few technical issues caused by myself messing on with things I don’t understand in the background) updates via the website haven’t been as frequent as I’d like, personally. On top of that, many of the pages are a touch out of date or no longer relevant. Plus we have a few new pages to add, such as a resources page for meeting minutes, monthly fixture posters and more, as well as some more relevant supporter based information pages and a more.
Ideally that should all be completed by the end of November – providing I don’t break the site again!
Memberships
Some of you will have already received them on Saturday just gone, but your new membership cards have finally arrived! These will be shipped out during the week. Lifetime members will get a new card every year, so you don’t worry if your card looks the same as everyone else.
The final design for the pin badges has also just been done by Jack Morton – who was kind enough to design the membership card as well.
A huge thank you to Jack for his work on both of these. Once the badges arrived, they’ll also be handed out/posted out. If you’re still wanting to join the trust or find more information about joining the trust, you can do so here.
So that should just about cover everything for this update. Once again, I’d like to extend a broad thank you to everyone that’s supported us or assisted us with anything we’ve done across the last few months. On behalf of the entire trust board, we’ll always be grateful for everyone’s backing and we’re proud to represent you.
Cheers,
Dan Rolls – Spartans Trust Chairman
