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Berwick Rangers 2018/2019 Thread


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1 hour ago, Berwick Obama said:

As for Dom, he’s precisely the kind of person I wouldn’t want to see involved. Ego would trump the club’s best interests. Our predicament has no room for that.

At least my ego would’ve slashed admission prices and hyped up the importance of the game on Saturday to try and do everything humanly possible to support the players, despite the fact we’re all but fucked.

but hey, at least we know not to try and buy three programmes. 

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Stenhousemuir have just published the following, an example of how far we have fallen behind that type of club.

Statement from the Chairman, looking back at the 2018/19 season.

I wanted to provide supporters with a review of the season just ended and an update of where we are as a club.

We went into this season looking to consolidate our place in League 1 after gaining promotion through the playoffs in the previous season.  We were aware that we had one of the lowest budgets amongst our competitors but nonetheless, we were upbeat about our chances.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.  Player recruitment as we went into the season fell short of where it needed to be.  We did secure the services of a number of good players who were well able to compete at this level, however, we had significant gaps in the squad which meant that despite their dedication and best efforts, we were always going to find it difficult.

We felt a change in team management was required and this was enacted prior to the January transfer window opening.  Unfortunately, it is difficult to strengthen a squad outside of the window, and even in January, there isn’t always the availability of quality players in the positions needed.  This reinforces the need to get things right in the pre-season period.

Colin McMenamin was appointed as the new Manager, and through his diligent efforts, he did manage to bring in some key personnel in January that had an immediate positive impact on the team, particularly in defence.  However, as time would show, we were unable to reverse our fortunes in terms of our league position.  We gave ourselves a fighting chance by managing to lift ourselves off the bottom spot, but we came up against an in-form Annan Athletic who beat us in the playoff semi-final and deserved to progress to the finals at our expense.  We wish them every success.

There were a number of positives from the last season that shouldn’t be overlooked.  We had a short but strong Scottish Cup run that began with a 4-2 victory against our local rivals, the now former Championship club Falkirk FC.  This match was battled out before a packed Ochilview, and the Warriors came out firing on all cylinders from the first kick of the ball and never looked back.  As well as allowing us to progress into the next round of the cup, the match was financially successful for the club too.  In the next round we were drawn against Aberdeen up at Pittodrie.  We headed up there wanting to acquit ourselves well, and we did just that.  We had a good travelling support at the game, and we gave Aberdeen a game.  We endured a lot of pressure and struggled at times to create solid chances, but we struck when it counted and the game finished 1-1.  This secured a replay at Ochilview.  In the resultant replay, Aberdeen showed their quality and ran out eventual winners, but once again, the Warriors gave them a game, and the match provided a financial boost to the club as well.  Those games against Falkirk and Aberdeen will long be remembered at Ochilview!

In terms of club finances, even if we take away the benefits from the cup run, the club has had a strong financial year.  We had set ourselves the target of increasing the club income by around 10%.  Whilst that may sound like a challenge in difficult times for Scottish football, we had plans in place behind every number and felt this was realistic with some re-organisation and hard work.  Not only did we achieve our targets, but we exceeded them in many areas.  For the year ahead, we are focusing on increasing the income yet again, and we are quietly confident that we will reach our goals.

This means that we have not only been able to maintain the player budget for the season ahead, but we have been able to include a substantial increase.  We will go into League 2 in a far stronger position financially than when we did previously.  This increase will not come at the expense of maintaining our strong financial position.  This increase will be from new money that is being brought into the club.  At this stage I would like to thank our sponsors, donors and partners who committed funds to the club last season, and those who have already signed up for next season.  We have partners like Leemic and The Gulnar who have been supporting the club for a number of years which is a great commitment from these local community minded businesses.  We welcome LOC Hire to the club as our new front of shirt partners.  LOC Hire has committed to a four year deal and is already helping in other ways too.  Your help is invaluable and has made the difference that allows us to grow as a club.

With new kit deals in place with UHL Sport and RJM Sports, which have positive financial benefits to the club, we are able to ensure that we continue to grow, but maintain our ‘one club’ approach as the new kit will be introduced across all parts of the club.

Our community programme continues to flourish and we are looking to grow this part of the club this coming year.  Our mental health team were recognised by FIFA last season for this ground breaking programme that we run in conjunction with Forth Valley mental health nurses.  This, along with the hundreds of kids, and people of all ages, who are now playing football in teams at Ochilview is a great source of pride for us.  Yes Hire has signed a 5 year partnership deal to become the principal sponsor of our community programme.  I’d like to place our thanks on record to them for this fantastic support.  Not only does this allow us to support and grow our extensive community programme, but it means we are looking to introduce a new Rewards Scheme for young community programme members.  Our young people will be the next generation of players, supporters, volunteers, board members and sponsors, so we want to introduce new ways to make them feel rewarded for being part of our club.  We are actively looking into creating a family section in the stand, and we’ll provide further information about this as plans develop.

We are also about to launch our new Coaching Academy programme for young adults from the community.  This is a coaching pathway for young people that will give them new skills, experience and qualifications that will be invaluable not only to Stenhousemuir Football Club, but to the whole community as these young people can get involved in a range of different activities and groups.

The first recipient of the Terje Eriksen Scholarship Fund was Tiwi Daramola.  Tiwi first joined the club at 8 years old and has now been awarded funding to sign his first professional contract with us.  Not only is this great news for Tiwi, but it further cements our enduring partnership with our Norwegian Supporters Club, of which Terje was hugely involved.  Tiwi is already making a name for himself with the Scottish Schools Under 18s team and we were all proud to see him being awarded his first cap at Hampden recently.

Returning to the first team, whilst there have been successes and failures over the last season, there is no doubt that the players fought hard for the club.  There have been changes and challenges to deal with, but they continued to fight right up to the final games.  They have been a credit to themselves as professionals and individuals.  I’d like to thank them all for their contribution to Stenhousemuir FC.  Some will be moving on to new opportunities, and I wish them all well.

The Manager is focused on recruiting new players for next season’s squad, and we as a Board have put in place additional support to help that happen.  As mentioned previously, at our level, successful pre-season recruitment is essential to a good season.  We will provide as much support as we can to ensure that Colin has the right strategy and approach to secure the squad that we need.  The resources are in place early, and talks with targets are already underway.

So whilst the disappointment of relegation is felt by us all, we just need to take this in our stride and look to overcome the new challenges that lie ahead.  We are on a long term journey to build our club.  We are on track to do so.  We are achieving year on year growth, and in cash terms, we are making a profit.  We are attracting new sponsors, partners and investment.  Not many clubs in Scottish football can say that.  We want to be a strong successful club both on and off the field.  We want to progress up the leagues.  We are putting the structures and finances in place to enable us to do just that.

Finally, I’d like to pay tribute to our staff, volunteers, my colleagues on the Board, and most importantly our dedicated supporters.  Fans continue to support us through good times and bad and this is not taken for granted.  We simply could not continue without this support.  We are a community, within the community and that is why we will succeed.  Looking ahead, there will be ups, and downs.  But if we can continue to work together towards common goals, then there will be considerably more ups ahead.

See you next season.

Iain McMenemy

Chairman – Stenhousemuir FC

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26 minutes ago, berwick-the-unbeatable said:

 Half the reason Dom, I dare say myself and others younger go about things the way we do is because they’re actually suppressed when they do try to help - you’re invited to at the beginning but very quickly limited. The only way to drive improvement beyond that at the moment is to put your head above the parapet, and take making yourself look the w****r in doing so a simple byproduct of wanting more for your club.  

Think about some of the ‘successes’ of the decade. Matty’s efforts with the kids/community or the club being brought up to the 21st century with digital and social presence. They’ve been things led by ‘younger’, limited by ‘older’. 

If you want to know why younger aren’t stepping up to the plate, it’s because the structure doesn’t exist to do so and it’s because when they do they’re blocked. It’s because they have to force change, and when they do they find they have to ‘sacrifice reputation’ to achieve change. That sacrificed reputation then leads to being in a position where people will suggest we need fresh ideas and young people, but rule you out of the running because of ego. 

I believe the ‘younger’ would be more willing to work with each other; to put the needs of the club above their own and show more maturity in the boardroom than those who’ve occupied those places previously and currently. I think Dom can be a total p***k, but still think we could benefit from his experience and knowledge in the right areas if a structure was there to reign him in and ensure he was also showing awareness of the bigger picture. 

Bingo. Cut down the post to highlight the key parts but this is spot on. 

I was fighting with the board, and the board before that, to try and get anything done. Not the way to progress, as most people will eventually ask themselves what the point is. 

I’m not the most liked and I suppose one of the reasons is my stubbornness to do what I feel is best for the club, even is others (John) disagreed. 

An example:

John Bell kept overlapping posts on Facebook and fucking up the content. I said I was happy to share whatever he wanted shared, but asked politely that he emailed it to me so it could go out at the right time. He ignored me and kept doing it.

Next I asked Len, as Chairman, to speak to him. Either that conversation never happened or John chose to ignore him and kept doing it.

I asked him a third time, being careful to explain that I was trying to keep a consistent tone of voice and style. He ignored me again and kept posting.

So what did I do? Deleted him from all social media to stop him. He threw a hissy fit, demanded to get put back on “because i’m the vice chairman” and then tried to get me sacked.

It wasn’t the best way to go about it, but as Dale said I had to force the change as I was being ingored whilst trying to do what was right. That complete lack of willingness to accept the youngsters is a large part of the downfall of the club.

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Some great posts today. And unfortunately some that highlight what an absolute shambles BRFC and it’s board of directors are. Directors are supposed to do exactly that, direct. This lot have been asleep at the wheel with the sat nav still searching for the house number.

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One thing about the current board is that they have the skins of a rhino, nothing bothers them, nothing affects them, they just carry on, they saw danger on the horizon and done nothing until it was too late. 

Why has the board not issued a statement, it just smacks of contempt or are they so feeble they just won't face the music, contrast that to the post of the statement by the Stenny chairman, this shows the gulf in class and morality.

I am sure everyone with an interest in the club wants to see new faces and new ideas, it's a shame it is going to take us to drop out of the league system to get a new start, I'm afraid it might be a drop that we fail to recover from.

 

 

 

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The notion that we can suddenly burst into life on Saturday and win by 4 or 5, is quite ridiculous. Only slightly more ridiculous than the notion that everyone over 50 is from Jurassic Park and that the answer is with youngsters who have ideas that nobody born before 1990 could possibly have thought of.

Edited by Redcar
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12 hours ago, Redcar said:

The notion that we can suddenly burst into life on Saturday and win by 4 or 5, is quite ridiculous. Only slightly more ridiculous than the notion that everyone over 50 is from Jurassic Park and that the answer is with youngsters who have ideas that nobody born before 1990 could possibly have thought of.

I don't think that's what anyone has said.

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Bit telling that Stenny can get a company to sign on for four years of main sponsorship, yet we've been forced to do raffles to find businesses willing to take a gamble.

I believe the raffle type thing has been successful at other clubs, though I stand to be corrected. The problem at Berwick was probably more to do with the execution of the idea and the lack of follow up from the club or director then responsible for it, than the idea in itself.

Though I think the comparisons in many areas with local teams is a bit silly, in attracting and retaining sponsors over the past few years, Berwick Rangers could certainly learn a thing or two. Or just listen to people like Dale and Dom tbf rather than a scattergun approach and a begging bowl.

And that Stenny chairman statement is brilliant. Man Utd and Newcastle could learn a lesson on how to engage from it, never mind Berwick.
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On 14/05/2019 at 12:47, Disc Potato said:

8 players under contract until 31st May 2020.

Jack Cook, Aidan Mcilduff, Grant Rose, Daryl Healy, Calum Adamson, Craig Hume, Andy Forbes and Lewy Barr. 

Hmmm.  

Am I the only one to find this scary ??

Over three quarters of the Clubs most under-performing, inept squad in history are signed on for another season !!

Are we aiming for the East of Scotland

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1 hour ago, berwicksfinest said:

Am I the only one to find this scary ??

Over three quarters of the Clubs most under-performing, inept squad in history are signed on for another season !!

Are we aiming for the East of Scotland

No! It's ever so slightly bonkers. 

Of course the Penicuik 3 are there, so if anyone is daft enough to employ Harvey they may follow him. 

The other 4 were also kept by Harvey in an effort to show how much the squad was behind him. A new manager might well punt them, but of course that could cost us money. 

Out of the 7, I'd have kept Cook and Barr. 

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7 hours ago, Thom & Gerry said:

Seen on another thread rumours that Kelly are gonna be spending big. Dylan Easton, Thomas Reilly, Nathan Austin and others mentioned. Could all be posh of course.

They'll be signing for us then ;)

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I've heard that the incoming chairman has a cunning plan to reinstate JH, the thinking being that he has experience at LL level and would be the man to get the club back on track, after all JH was his man, JB did not want him sacked but was overruled by the rest of the board, apparently it wasn't so much a sacking but garden leave. oucha!

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