Last night's meeting of the Trust Board at Runcorn Linnets FC saw the reappointments of three club officials for another 12 months.

Dave Jones and Peter Cartledge, continue as chairman and vice-chairman, respectively - both re-elected unopposed as part of the annual review of roles.

Meanwhile, Dave Bettley stays as Trust secretary at the invitation of the Board.

Two existing external co-options were extended for another year - Nick Woods from the Junior Executive Committee continues as junior liaison officer while James Sidwell is reappointed in his financial role.

The Board also confirmed the appointments of two new externally co-opted members.

Kel Hoose returns to thie Board as treasurer, succeeding Dave Jones in this position, while club vice-president and former club secretary/vice-chairman Paul Eastup is co-opted as part of the finance team.

The three new Board members successful in the recent elections - Bren Connolly, Paul Riley and Jack Walsh - attended the first meeting since taking up their directorships.

All new board members were welcomed and wished every success.

An update was given on the processing of club accounts for the delayed Annual General Meeting.

Some progress has been made with this. The club has continued discussions with the Football Supporters Association (FSA) and remains confident that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will agree to extend the deadline for submission of accounts with the Annual Return.

The club is still working towards arranging the 2021 AGM and liaising with club accountants Burton Beavan.

We would now anticipate that the meeting will be in mid to late March.

The Board will, of course, further update Trust members in due course and thanks everyone for their patience and understanding in this matter.

Men's Team

We continued our recent good form with a comprehensive 7-0 win over Kendal Town at the APEC on Saturday. It was a brilliant performance that was a culmination of all the hard work Calum and his team have put in over the last few months and I think you could see it coming with the performances we've put in recently.

The win put us firmly in the play-off positions and I think we'll have a good idea of where we are at the end of this month. It's certainly an exciting time to be a Linnets fan.

Next, we travel to Ellesmere Port to take on City of Liverpool and considering the thrilling 3-3 draw at home last year, it should be a cracker.

Linnets Ladies

The Ladies returned to action at the APEC Taxis Stadium against Alder FC Women with a 2-2 draw. This draw ended a tough run of league defeats so hopefully is a sign that the team is heading in the right direction. I took in some of Toddy's training session this week and I was very impressed by the effort they were putting in.

Next up for the Ladies is another home game against Didsbury FC Ladies on Sunday 23rd January at 2pm.

Development Team

We have appointed Dean Vian as Development Team manager for the rest of the season. Dean has a good pedigree as a coach, having worked with Chester Women and the Chester Academy and he was recommended by Calum, so there will be a good working relationship between them. Gibbo will work with Dean for a while to ensure there is a good handover period.

Gibbo is handing over a very good crop of young players and I'm excited to see what Dean can do with them.

Following the Christmas break their next game is against 1874 Northwich U21 on Sunday 16th January at Moss Farm Leisure Complex and kicks off at 4pm.

ESPFA Academy Team

The Academy team returned from their Christmas break and showed no signs of any rustiness as Ste Chaney's lads ran out 10-2 winners against Witton Albion on Thursday. That now makes it seven wins out of seven to start the league season as well as another win in the cup. It has been a remarkable start for the lads and hopefully it will continue.

Their next game is at the APEC Taxis Stadium on Thursday 20th January at 12pm against Brighouse Town. The gates will be open and anyone is welcome to attend and cheer the lads on.

Thank you for reading.

Dave Jones

Runcorn Linnets FC - Chairman

Let me begin by wishing you all a very Happy New Year, I hope you all enjoyed yourselves, I know I enjoyed New Year's Day!

Men's Team

On New Year's Day the lads recovered from going a goal down in the very first minute against 1874 Northwich, with a goal from Lloyd Marsh-Hughes to take us in level at half time and a late beauty from the brilliant Iwan Murray after 1874 went down to 10 men. It was a hard fought but deserved win, which took us in to the play off positions and was a great way to follow up wins over Widnes and Prescot Cables. Nine points out of nine is a tremendous return under any circumstances but given how short of players we have been and the lack of training, Calum and the lads have been amazing.

We followed up our New Year's Day win with a comprehensive 5-0 win over Winsford in the Cheshire Senior Cup. I think you can see from the team that Calum named that he is serious about the Cheshire Senior Cup, and it is a cup I would love to see us win.

Linnets Ladies

After a long break, the Ladies are finally back in action when they take on Alder FC Women at the APEC Taxis Stadium on Sunday 9th January at 2pm. It's free entry for all and it would be good to see as many of you there as possible.

Joe Young

As you've already probably seen by now Joe Young has returned to Wolves. I think Joe has been exceptional for us in recent months and I hope that we have helped in his development. Wolves have recalled him as his initial loan expired and despite our best efforts to keep him, they have other plans for him. I would like to thank Wolves for allowing Joe to join the Linnets and trusting us to look after him.

Good luck for the future Joe.

Fan Behaviour

Let me start by saying I am absolutely delighted at not only the increase in attendances but the improvement in the atmosphere both home and away. It is something we've wanted to improve for a long time, and I know Calum and the lads absolutely love the support.

That being said, I have to say I am concerned at the recent use at pyrotechnics. People may think they are harmless and help generate an atmosphere but if things go wrong, they can cause serious injury. It is quite simply illegal to take them into a football stadium and there can be serious repercussions for those who do so and for the club they support.

Anyone found with a smoke bomb, flare or any other prohibited items in the APEC Taxis Stadium will be removed from the ground and banned indefinitely.

I do not want to ban anybody from watching the Linnets, however it is my job to protect the image of this football club and that is exactly what I will do. We want the fans to create an atmosphere to cheer the lads on, but it must be done safely and be respectful of fellow fans.

Thank you for reading.

Dave Jones

Runcorn Linnets FC - Chairman

Our support this season, both home and away, has been incredible, thankyou. As you are most probably aware, we are seeing an increase in the use of flares / smoke bombs and fireworks (Pyrotechnics) across football, at all levels of the pyramid. Additionally, the Club have been advised that there are video's and photographs circulating online which appear to show the use of pyrotechnics at Runcorn Linnets matches.

To ensure the safety of all supporters visiting the APEC Taxis Stadium, please see some guidance below from the FA and Sports Ground Safety Agency (SGSA) regarding the use of pyrotechnics at football matches in England.

Pyrotechnics are illegal at football grounds.

Being in possession of a pyrotechnic device at a football match, or attempting to bring a pyrotechnic device into a football stadium, is a criminal offence under the Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc) Act 1985. Any person committing such an offence faces arrest and can expect the Court to make a Football Banning Order.

The Club could also be fined as a result.

Thank you again for your amazing support this season and a Happy New Year.

Men's Team

We entertained Prescot Cables at the APEC Taxis Stadium on Monday for our festive derby fixture. Unfortunately, I had to listen on Linnets Live as I was unwell with Covid symptoms but thankfully three tests have come up negative.

It wasn't the best of games by all accounts but considering the number of players we were missing, which was highlighted by us only being able to name three subs and two of those being a player just back from injury and a player signed that morning, getting a result was all that mattered. The lads battled to a 2-1 win courtesy of an own goal and a second half goal from James Steele. It was another great attendance to finish the year off and a great atmosphere from what I could hear. The atmosphere is something the management team and players have all commented about.

Queues

I would like to take this opportunity to apologise for any delays in gaining entry to the ground on Monday, there was an issue with opening the second turnstile and it was a higher than average attendance.

There were also issues with Covid isolations hitting our volunteers (myself included), which adding in the increased attendances resulted in there being excessive queues for both the bar and the tea bar. I would like to thank our fans for their patience and also thank our volunteers for working flat out to clear the queues.

I would say that crowds of around 900 are just about our limit with our permanent infrastructure when we have a full complement of volunteers and with volunteers missing, we are always going to struggle. That is something we are going to look at improving for the future, as it looks like these kinds of attendances could become the norm.

Thank you to Ste Lomax and Karen Chaney for helping to reduce the queue by letting fans in through the main entrance, this helped us get everyone in the ground by 3.10.

2021

What a year it has been for the Linnets, a year in which we didn't play our first game of football until 3rd July. I became Chairman at the start of January and then we took advantage of the extended break by making sure the club was in the best shape possible by the time we were able to host football matches again. Thanks to our amazing Maintenance Team, we completely transformed the ground and turned it into a welcoming place people will want to return to.

We honoured all 2020/21 season tickets for 2021/22 and launched our Footy for a Fiver initiative with adult season tickets priced at £95 and this resulted in us having 118 season ticket holders. Our league campaign started with over 700 fans attending for the visit of Halton rivals Widnes and the crowds have stayed high since, with our average being over 600.

We have broken our attendance record when 1078 attended the FC United game and our Ladies got in on the act when 282 fans watched them win their first ever Women's FA Cup match which was the highest attendance in the 1st Qualifying Round in the entire country. Not only have we increased our attendances but we've also managed to attract younger fans to the Linnets, something which we have been trying to do for years and it is great to see so many young people enjoying watching the Linnets and making so much noise.

Commercially we have signed two massive new deals which saw Complete Security Systems become our new front of shirt sponsor and APEC Taxis become our new stadium sponsor.

Ground improvements have also included moving the bar into the old Juniors kitchen, which allowed us to improve the seating in the clubhouse, improved signage, and additional cover down the bottom end.

There is plenty more to come in 2022, so I will end 2021 by saying a massive thank you to all our volunteers, fans, players, and management team for making 2021 such a good year for the Linnets.

Thank you all for reading and I'll see you all next year.

Dave Jones

Runcorn Linnets FC - Chairman