Our Trust secretary, Dave Bettley and family thank everyone for their kindness, support and messages of sympathy after the recent passing of Dave's mum, Joan.

The family's special thanks go to all at Runcorn Linnets, particularly to Alan Jones and Josh Christian for organising such lovely tributes for Joan and for staging the get together in the clubhouse after the funeral service.

Thank you also to everyone, who donated so generously in memory of Joan, a Linnets supporter and volunteer for 50 years.

Runcorn Linnets FC have received £401.27 and the same amount will be sent this week to RNLI Hoylake.

Men's FA Cup

Although we were ultimately left disappointed, I was very proud of our overall performance against Gateshead and feel that with a bit more luck we could have gotten a win. It was another fantastic crowd, this time topping 900 and what a noise you all made, it was amazing to see and hear.

We were aware of some post-match comments from the Gateshead manager and whilst I won't give him the satisfaction of responding or mentioning his comments, please rest assured that we made an official complaint to Gateshead and were happy to see the video was subsequently taken down.

There were a few issues after the game with a small number of Gateshead fans and a few of our younger fans which I and other members of the board had to deal with (along with some former board members and the hired security). I spoke to both parties, as well as the Gateshead officials and we were able to get the Gateshead fans minibus away from the Stadium without a major incident.

Whilst I'm happy that we are attracting a lot more younger fans we don't want to gain a reputation as a club that has troublemakers but I do feel that the vast majority of the time they are well behaved. We will monitor the situation like we do most things but overall, the young fans have been a great addition to the club.

Onto the next game and we start our journey in the FA Trophy away at Tadcaster on Saturday 9th October. I absolutely love the FA Trophy and I hope we can go on a good run in this year's competition.

Linnets Ladies

I travelled to Aintree on Sunday and after many diversions I arrived just about in time to watch the Linnets Ladies take on BRNESC Women FC in the Vitality Women's FA Cup. I guess the referee must have had the same issues as me finding the venue and gave up as they never turned up, so we ended up with the bizarre situation of a referee and an assistant on only one side of the pitch. I do feel this had an impact on the game as the referee called some offsides when he wasn't really in the correct position to do so.

We dominated the game but were unable to take our chances and some unfortunate defensive errors led to a 4-2 defeat. A disappointing result for the Ladies but I'm sure they'll bounce back.

Development Team

Gibbo is still struggling with being short of players but a gritty away performance against St Helens Town U21s led them to a 3-2 win with goals from Jordan Monthe, Joe McGowen and Harry McDonald.

Next up for the Development Team is a home game at the APEC Taxis Stadium against AFC Knowsley U21s on Sunday 10th October at 12pm.

Bar Issues

The crowd at Saturday's game was 907 which for us, as I'm sure you'll agree is huge. With more people comes bigger queues and the bar was very busy, for example 578 pints were pulled. There was also an issue with some of the plastic pint pots we use, as they were making the beer froth, once the cause was identified the pint pots were changed over and the issue was resolved.

Whilst I apologise for any delays caused, I have to say that our volunteers in both the Bar and Tea Bar worked so hard and did very well to manage such a large crowd. So thank you very much to all our volunteers on Saturday.

Club Development Plan

The Club Development Plan has been sent out to all Trust Members and I hope it has given you all an insight into our plans for the future of your football club.

If you have any questions in relation to the plan or think you can help in any way, please use the link below to contact me.

Request to Chat

Events

Our next event will be a Halloween party in The Clubhouse on Saturday 30th October with the doors opening at 7pm. Fancy dress is very much encouraged, there will be hot food provided, games played, prizes awarded for best costumes and of course our bar will be open until 11pm. Tickets are priced at £5 and I'm sure it will be a fun filled evening for all the family. Tickets will be available from the Club Shop, at the programmes table outside the main turnstile and online at the link below. If you have any questions regarding any of our events please speak to our Events Manager Grace Mantova.

Runcorn Linnets Events

Thank you all for reading.

Dave Jones

Runcorn Linnets FC - Chairman

Runcorn Linnets have reluctanctly accepted the resignation of James Eastup from his position on the Trust Board.

James had been finding it increasingly difficult to fulfill the role due to new working and family commitments.

However, the board is happy to report that James will stay actively involved in the club as Trust communications manager.

This is an official continuation of an existing role, liaising with the Trust secretary, Dave Bettley to issue regular updates via member email.

James has supported Runcorn Linnets from day one, our first friendly game at St Helens in 2006,  and been actively involved as a volunteer or Trust Board member for the last seven years.

He has carried out many and varied duties during this time.

James was previously responsible for the club's online and graphic design content, creating the popular Subbuteo-style match updates and club branding, including our new-style club crest.

He has also served as assistant club secretary (acting as secretary on the odd occasion) and as club photographer took many fantastic images, most notably of our NWCL title-winning in season of 2017-18.

Club chairman Dave Jones said: "We are sorry to lose James from the board but fully understand his reasons with increased working commitments and a new arrival in the family. We are pleased he will continue to have a vital input as Trust communications manager."

James Eastup said: "I am sad to step down from the Board but due to a lot of big changes in my life the last 12 months, find I no longer have the time to commit fully to the role.

"However, I look forward to helping to keep our Trust members fully informed and up to date of Trust business and club news."

The club has received some distressing news, after the death yesterday of ever-popular former Linnets defender Tony Murphy.

Tony was one of three hometown full backs who served the original club with distinction in the early 1970s.

Both Tony and Tim Rutter were only in their mid to late teens when they first broke into the Northern Premier League side.

It has to be remembered that at this time, the NPL was at the top level of football outside the Football League and yet they were both stellar performers.

Tim switched from left back to right on the playing retirement of Derek Baker, the third of the Runcorn-based full backs, at the end of the 1975-76 NPL title-winning season.

It was at this point that Tony made the left back berth his own.

Then living in Castlefields, he had come through the Linnets' reserve ranks.

Tony subsequently moved on Bangor City when his Runcorn manager, Stan Storton took over at Farrar Road in the late 1970s.

But he later returned to Cheshire, signing for Northwich Victoria with whom he won the FA Trophy in 1983-84.

After a draw at Wembley, Vics won the first ever final replay - defeating Bangor City at the Victoria Ground in Stoke.

Two other ex-Canal Street men, Runcornian Graham Abel and Phil Wilson were in the same Greens squad.

Tony was as enthusiastic on the field as he was off it and would maraud forward on trademark runs from defence.

Runcorn themselves fell victims of his ebullience in November 1980, Murph's spectacular long-range strike knocking the Linnets - bound for another NPL title that same season - out of the FA Cup.

Alliance Premier League outfit Northwich triumphed 2-1in a thrilling Drill Field tie, the 86th-minute 'thunderbolt' in front of a 2,866 crowd offering his former club little or no time to recover.

Tony would briefly return to Canal Street in the mid 1990s to manage Runcorn's Youth team.

That side featured David Ness, another left back who graduated to the first team at a young age.

Nessy has since served Runcorn Linnets as first-team coach.

Tony Murphy's youth side also included the hugely-promising Chris Shuker, who was promptly snapped up by Manchester City and went on to appear 402 times in the English Football League, representing a number of clubs over a 14-year career.

Tony's team had son Andy in goal.

Andy went on to play a few games for the first team as understudy 'keeeper towards the end of the original club's days.

Tony Murphy was a guest of Runcorn Linnets at a game in 2017 when he accompanied, in typical larger than life style, another ex-Linnets and Vics star Eddie Bishop and Northwich legend Kenny Jones.

Kenny had been invited by Linnets to collect a commemorative tankard, which related to his long Vics career and had been found in the Halton Arms pub next door to us (Jones having been a one-time landlord) immediately prior to its demolition.

Tony Murphy was an excellent player and a great, fun-loving character, who never really changed - always having a big smile on his face.

RIP Tony.

Picture: Tony Murphy, left, with Kenny Jones and Eddie Bishop at the Linnets Stadium in 2017.

Men's Team

We welcomed back some familiar faces to the APEC on Tuesday, when City of Liverpool were our guests and it turned out to be a cracking game. The Linnets took a 2 nil lead following a Jacques Welsh penalty and a header from Ryan Brooke before Freddie Potter (who else!) got a goal back before half time to send us into the break leading 2-1. City of Liverpool got off to a very bright start in the 2nd half and we quickly found ourselves 3-2 behind following goals from Ryan Gibson (another familiar name) and Djavan Pedro. Then on 67 minutes Iwan Murray's marauding run was crudely brought to a halt by the City of Liverpool number 5. After picking himself up, Iwan exacted the ultimate revenge by perfectly placing the ball in the top corner to make it 3-3.

After being 2-0 up at home you will always be disappointed not to win the game but we showed great character to find an equaliser and I felt we were the only team likely to find the winner.

Onto Saturday against Gateshead in the cup and what a game it promises to be, based on the press requests we've received it seems there's a lot of outside interest in the game and I cannot wait for it.

Linnets Ladies

The Ladies played Wythenshawe AFC Women on Sunday and after an eventful game they came away with a 2-2 draw with goals from Chelsea Gillies and Lile Ashley.

The Ladies are on their own FA Cup journey and they take their next step of the journey on Sunday 3rd October away against BRNESC Women FC at Melling Road, Liverpool, L9 0LQ. Hopefully the Ladies can get through and then get a home draw in the next round.

Development Team

The Development Team continued their difficult start to the season losing 4-1 at home to St Michaels DHFC with a lot of players missing, hopefully Gibbo will be able to field a consistent team soon and start picking up some results. Although, as I told Gibbo when I offered him the job, it isn't about results, it's about developing Linnets Juniors players into 1st team players.

Their next game is away against St Helens Town U21 on 3rd October.

Tea Bar We are aware of the issues with queuing at the Tea Bar, Grace and the staff in the Tea Bar are working flat out to get everyone served in a timely manner, unfortunately we are dealing with crowds almost double what they used to be and this means that it takes time to serve everyone.

We will trial opening the internal hatch into the Clubhouse for drinks and confectionary only but we will have to keep an eye on how it works because we don't want to create congestion inside the Clubhouse, especially considering we have moved the bar queue for similar reasons. The layout of the Clubhouse is not the best to work with and the reason I was reluctant to reopen the internal hatch as the queue used to block the door out to the pitch but we will endeavour to implement a workable solution.

Events

Our next event will be a Halloween party in The Clubhouse on Saturday 30th October with the doors opening at 7pm. Fancy dress is very much encouraged, there will be hot food provided, games played, prizes awarded for best costumes and of course our bar will be open until 11pm. Tickets are priced at £5 and I'm sure it will be a fun filled evening for all the family. Tickets will be available from the Club Shop, at the programmes table outside the main turnstile and online at the link below. If you have any questions regarding any of our events please speak to our Events Manager Grace Mantova.

Runcorn Linnets Events

Thank you all for reading.

Dave Jones

Runcorn Linnets FC - Chairman