Men's First Team Pre-Season

Our preseason fixtures are now finalised with the adding of the game against Shepshed Dynamo and a game at St Helens Town replacing the game against Sandbach Town. I would like to thank St Helens Town for stepping in after Sandbach Town withdrew.

The players return to training next Tuesday and I am really looking forward to seeing them all, with our first game being on 26th June, it is all getting really close now! Don't forget, our first home preseason game is on 10th July against Matt Atherton's Euxton Villa and it is free entry for all.

Season Tickets

Season tickets went on sale on Monday 7th June and considering all 2020/21 season tickets are valid for next season, I am really happy with the uptake so far. If you want to come on the journey with us, please click on the link below.

Purchase Season Tickets

Water Plus

In the interests of transparency, I wanted to inform you all that we are currently disputing a large bill from Utilities company Water Plus. We pay Water Plus for our "water rates" and for wastewater (toilets, showers etc.) and that account is up to date. This invoice is in relation to any water that drains into a public drain, so water from the gutters for example. They are charging us per chargeable area and it is this chargeable area which we are disputing, as they include areas such as the untarmacked car park which clearly does not have drainage.

This has been ongoing since before I joined the board and I am in agreement with the previous board that the invoice is incorrect and we are not willing to pay it. If any of our fans are solicitors or know of any solicitors who are willing to provide us with some free of charge legal advice, please get in touch. I am confident that the invoice is incorrect but as a fan owned club, we are not really in a position to spend fans money on legal fees.

Thank you for reading, take care and I'll see you all soon.

Dave Jones

Chairman – Runcorn Linnets FC

Runcorn Linnets Under 18s

The Under 18s played their rearranged title decider against Bootle on Saturday knowing that a win would clinch the league for them. They duly won 7-1 which resulted in wild celebrations amongst the Linnets players and fans.

The lads have been absolutely brilliant this season and are deserved champions. Congratulations to Gibbo, Toddy, Carney, and the lads, you have done the club proud this season.

Runcorn Linnets Academy

Unfortunately, the Academy team were unable to win their last game in the ESPFA National Championship, however that does not take away from the great season they have had. Winning the Northern Division title and progressing to the National Championship was a great achievement and Ste Chaney and the boys should be proud of what they have achieved.

Season Tickets

Season tickets for the 2021/22 Northern Premier League West Division season will go on sale online from Monday 7th June and they will also be available to purchase from the clubshop at our preseason friendlies.

We are launching our Footy for a Fiver initiative and adults season tickets will be priced at £95 which equals £5 per game over a 19 game league season. Concession prices will be £55 and anyone aged 18 or under can get in all home league games for free.

We are also changing who qualifies for concession prices to include anyone aged 19-22. We want to reward our loyal fans and also attract the next generation of Linnets fans.

Thank you for reading, take care and I'll see you all soon.

Dave Jones

Chairman – Runcorn Linnets FC

Runcorn Linnets in 7th Heaven after lifting the West Cheshire Youth Division league title.

Linnets needed a win at Bootle to secure the title, the fixture had to be re-arranged due to a match abandoned a week earlier after 20 mins due to a nasty injury to Eddie Alleynne who left in an ambulance some four hours after the tackle. Linnets U18 Manager Robbie Gibbons said, "Eddie has been a massive part of the our success this season scoring and creating many goals, we all wish him a speedy recovery and wanted to win this game for him and Elis Newby who suffered a nasty injury and hasn't been able to kick a ball on the pitch but kicked every ball with them in the dugout."

The Linnets headed to Kirkby knowing a win over Bootle would see them crowned champions and make history for the Borough of Halton becoming the first team to lift the West Cheshire U18 title.

Linnets started the game on the front foot and were comfortable in possession spreading the ball from left to right and as early as the 5th minute Linnets took the lead with a thunderous header from Thomas Collins to settle the team's nerves.

Linnets looked hungry and hunted Bootle down in packs when the opposition had possession, Linnets looked dangerous every time they had possession with both full backs getting forward at every opportunity. Adam Idown & Jorge Dwyer linking up with the wingers Fenton Gibbons and Rhys Ferguson causing Bootle big problems.

Linnets changed their formation for this game and went with a 4-5-1 formation, the three in the middle, Harry McDonald, Gerrard Crane & Skipper Harry Burnell took the game by the scruff of the neck, winning everything and cool in possession.

On the half hour mark Fenton Gibbons signalled to come off due to foot injuries and Ishmael Sonko was chomping at the bit to enter the field of play and in the 40th minute he scored a great solo goal, driving through the Bootle defence and slotted nicely into the right corner.

At half time the Linnets are two goals up and with Robbie Gibbons and David Todd's half time team talk still ringing in their ears went onto the pitch fired up. In the 51st minute the Linnets found themselves three up with another goal from Sonko. The Linnets supporters were loving it in the blistering sunshine. The Mighty Green & yellows were playing like the boys from Brazil in the Maracanã, with a swagger to their play and on the hour mark a Harry McDonald shot from outside the box finds the back of the net to make it 4-0.

Bootle were not giving up that easily though and scored a great goal to make it 4-1. This prompted the Linnets manager to turn to some fresh legs, he brought on Morgan Gunther & Folo Fajuke who settled into the game straight away. Morgan was fouled in the box and awarded a penalty kick, Sonko wanted to complete his hattrick and take the match ball home, and he slotted calmly into the bottom corner to go 5-1 up.

Jordan Monthe wanted to get on the score sheet and so he did with a fine solo run and an ice cool finish to go 6-1 up, Jordan also receives the Golden boot for finishing as the leading goal scorer for the league.

With five minutes to go, the party in full swing and Folo Fajuke wanted to get onto the score sheet and so he did, sending Linnets into 7th heaven and crowned champions.

What a season it has been for the Runcorn Linnets Under 18 team, with some breath-taking displays, they truly deserved to lift the trophy, Linnets skipper Harry Burnell lifted the cup with great celebrations from team mates and coaching staff.

Manager Robbie Gibbons said, "The whole team and coaching staff have just gelled together, they are a great bunch of lads on and off the field. They have been a pleasure to manage and have become friends, they will talk about this moment in years to come to friends in the boozer or maybe their own kids one day."

He was also quick to point out the work David Todd has done since joining him three years ago saying, "Dave is the perfect coach to work with, we bounce off each other, when I knew Dave had arrived back from coaching in America I was straight on the phone asking him to be my assistant, Toddy takes all the coaching sessions and I'll manage the team, it's been a match made in heaven." Finally, he added, "All the players have been fantastic from pre-season to the final whistle, a special mention to them we help and guide them but they go out and deliver on every occasion we thank you all for an incredible season."

Runcorn Linnets Under 18s Team: Brandon Barton, Adam Idown, Cameron Schofield, Thomas Collins, Jorge Dwyer, Harry Burrnell, Thomas Yenson, Fenton Gibbons, Rhys Ferguson, Gerrard Crane, Harry McDonald, Eddie Alleynne, Ishmael Sonko, Elis Newby, Nabil Rahim, Jordan Monthe, Morgan Gunther.

Runcorn Linnets are delighted to announce their Footy for a Fiver initiative with the launch of season tickets for the 2021/22 Northern Premier League West Division season priced at £95 for adults, which equates to £5 per game. Concession season tickets will be priced at £55 with concessions now including anyone aged 19 to 22 (Those 18 and under can already gain entry for free at all league games). The change in who qualifies as a concession will also apply to single game admission prices.

Runcorn Linnets Chairman, Dave Jones said, "When I took over as Chairman one of my main priorities was the fans. We needed to reward our loyal fans, which we did with the pledge to roll over all 2020/21 season tickets to the 2021/22 season, we needed to make football more affordable for those fans who maybe wanted a season ticket but couldn't afford one and we needed to attract new fans. I think this initiative is a good place to start."

"We need to attract the next generation of fans to the Linnets, and I hope changing who qualifies for concession prices to include 19- to 22-year-olds will do that, as they will now be able to attend games for just £5. The goal is to provide quality football at affordable prices for the people of Runcorn and beyond." Runcorn Linnets Manager, Calum McIntyre can't wait to see fans back at the Linnets and said, "This is a terrific opportunity for the local community to see an entire season of football at the Linnets for less than £100. There is an immensely exciting season ahead as we hope to see fans return to the Linnets after so much disruption over the past two seasons. We are determined to be a team that the entire community can be proud of, and to do that we need your support. It is going to be an extremely competitive division this season and to achieve our targets for the campaign we will need our supporters right behind us."

Season tickets for the 2021/22 Northern Premier League West Division season will go on sale online on Monday 7th June and will be available to purchase from the clubshop at all our home pre-season friendlies.

Manager Calum McIntyre has given an update on continuing preparations for the 2021-22 season.

He says: "It has been a busy spell for all of us as we prepare for the season ahead. Upon the lockdown restrictions easing, we made the decision to get the squad back together for one night per week and also arranged two friendly fixtures.

"The main reason for ensuring we returned to training was largely to get this group of players back together as quickly as possible. We didn't do anything too technical, they are really close-knit squad and we felt it was important we had some contact together to preserve that.

"As well as that, we were able to get an earlier than usual look at some trialists and potential new recruits. This was the main reason for a friendly fixture away at Radcliffe, where we fielded nearly ten trialists across the two halves. It was a really useful exercise and we feel this early approach to recruitment will benefit us during pre-season.

"Our attention has pretty consistently been on next season, we now have some clarity as to the make up of our division and the challenge ahead for us is there for all to see.

"We feel that last season, the nature of a variety of circumstances made for a different pre-season.

"This year, we feel we will be able to get significantly more work done with the players on the training pitch and can dictate a little more as to when we play our pre-season fixtures.

"Lots of planning has gone in to our pre-season programme. We have limited our midweek fixtures as much as possible to ensure that we don't lose a midweek training session and have also provided a variety of opposition both home and away.

"We have planned the entire training block for pre-season with the opposition coming at the right time to meet the areas we are targeting at certain points in pre-season.

"As mentioned above, we wanted to get as much recruitment done as early as possible to ensure that the group that returns for pre-season training towards the end of June consists of predominantly lads that are committed for the season ahead, rather than a large number of trialists.

"We were very clear that we wanted to retain the vast majority of a group that we felt were progressing nicely until the lockdown. We felt we were hitting the kind of form the group were capable of, but equally we are well aware where we needed to improve and tried to target those specific areas in our recruitment.

"We wanted to ensure those players we brought in to the existing group offered a level of dynamism as well as ensuring they fitted within the existing structure.

"So many of the conversations around retaining last year's squad were very short which is really, really pleasing. To get Peter Wylie and James Short done first was important, they are two real positive characters in our dressing room and were quick to commit for next season.

"It isn't right to single out each individual player but it was really pleasing to get the commitment off talented youngsters such as Iwan Murray and Paddy Wharton.

"Iwan had offers significantly further up the pyramid but felt that he needs a full season of football under his belt before progressing back up the leagues. The potential he has is clear for all to see and it is inevitable that Iwan will be playing much higher up the pyramid in the not too distant future.

"Equally, Paddy Wharton is an outstanding goalkeeper for this level of football and beyond. He had a COVID- enforced stop start campaign last season but I was really pleased to get him committed despite competition from other clubs at this level.

"To have retained so many of last season's squad is huge for us. They are an outstanding group both on and off the pitch. Their talent and commitment is everything we could ask for and we are all determined to build on the foundations established in last season's curtailed campaign.

"I have complete belief in this squad of players and remain excited as to what they can achieve.

"There are obviously a handful of bits and bobs to be done in signing players. We envisage three to four players committing in the not too distant future to complete our squad but it isn't right to discuss that at this moment in time.

"We have complimented the existing group with the three new signings, all of which add something to us in different areas. They have slotted into the group nicely and we look forward to integrating them fully during pre-season.

"A word for Craig Lindfield who has recently undergone surgery with an issue that troubled him during last season. Linny was terrific for us last campaign but needed to have his surgery to allow the issue to not progress further.

"The operation was a success and he now begins his rehabilitation with our Therapist Luke Davies. I know how committed Linny will be to his recovery and in Luke he has a genuine expert in his field to assist his return to the pitch.

"It has been a long time since we were at a game together and it is exciting to have pre-season just round the corner. Due to circumstances, very few of the targets I set for the group eleven months ago and have been achieved and this only increases our desire to have some success here at Linnets.

"We have used the time off to plan and to improve. The work that has been undertaken around the ground by an incredible team of volunteers is superb and their effort is appreciated by the first-team staff and players alike.

"The Euxton Villa friendly promises to be a fantastic occasion as we welcome our supporters back to the ground with a game that is free admission.

"I would encourage as many supporters as possible to attend with a friend or two to show them what we are trying to build for the season ahead.

"It feels like a superb opportunity to show the local community that we are worthy of their support. We feel we have prepared properly but we are all under no illusions about the challenge ahead next season.

"To have any level of success, we will need absolutely everyone and that is players, staff, supporters and volunteers.

"We will need everyone right behind us and we will need to make sure we reward that support every single time we go out.

"Many thanks for your continued support, we will be working harder than ever for the season ahead."