Annual General Meeting

The club's AGM took place online on Thursday 11th March and I want to thank everyone who attended and everyone who took part in the online voting.

It wasn't ideal that we had to hold the event online and I hope we don't have to again but it was essential to hold the AGM before the end of March so we could meet our mandatory obligations.

For anyone who was unable to attend, we will hopefully be able to send out a recording of the event to all Trust members. I must warn you all though, it is just an hour of me talking!

Groundshare Approach

In the interest of transparency and keeping Trust members informed of important decisions that the board make on your behalf, I wanted to inform you that we received a request to groundshare.

The request came from a club in the NPL North West Division. The request was discussed with Calum and the board and then Peter Cartledge and I met with representatives of the club who made the request.

After weighing up all the pros and cons of the request and taking into account Calum's opinion on the subject, I recommended to the board that we should decline the request and the board were unanimous in supporting that recommendation.

Due to commercial confidentiality I am unable to discuss the specific financial aspects of the offer, however their starting offer meant we didn't feel we could negotiate an agreement that would make the groundshare worthwhile.

If anyone would like to discuss this issue with me, then please use the Chat with the Chairman link under Contact Us on the club website and I will share what I can.

Compound Works

As many of you will have seen from the pictures shared on Twitter, the compound work is at an advanced stage, so I thought I would share the plans with you all.

The whole compound has been cleared of any rubbish, the trees have been cut back, all the old fencing has been removed, the path that runs alongside the players tunnel has been extended, the two containers have been moved to run along the edge of the compound and the portacabin containing the manager's office and the new clubshop has been moved to run parallel with the main building. The next stage is to install new fencing, landscape the entire area and then finish with a fresh coat of paint.

Work on the compound was long overdue and it was apparent that it needed more than just a bit of a tidy up. Not only will this work make the compound look much better, it will finally make the compound safe and ensure the safety of our volunteers who enter the compound.

The Grounds Maintenance team have put in many hours of hard work and I would like to thank each of them for that hard work, it is very much appreciated.

Thank you for taking the time to read this update. Keep well, stay safe and I'll see you all soon.

Dave Jones

Chairman - Runcorn Linnets FC

Season Tickets

As I'm sure you are already aware, the Runcorn Linnets Trust Board made the decision to rollover all 2020/21 season tickets to the 2021/22 season. The last year or so has been a difficult time for the club with two prematurely ended seasons and during that time our fans have been amazing and we wanted to reward those fans who pay for a season ticket and didn't get to see a full season of football.

Without our fans there is no Runcorn Linnets Football Club and we want you all to know how important you are to us. We will hopefully be announcing some more season ticket initiatives in the coming months to get more fans inside the Millbank.

Floodlights

The time has finally come when I can say this is the last time I will talk to you about floodlights! The broken bulb has been replaced and the capacitors have been replaced on all the floodlight columns, so we don't have a repeat of the floodlight outage or the fire that it caused.

When football returns to the Millbank, all floodlights will be working and hopefully we won't have any need for temporary floodlights again.

Runcorn Linnets Ladies

As Monday was International Women's Day, I wanted to say a few words about our Ladies team. They are an important part of Runcorn Linnets Football Club and we are very proud of all their achievements, including gaining promotion to the North West Women's Regional League, Division 1 South last season.

The new Hybrid Pitch has allowed them to play their home games at the Millbank where they belong, and I have enjoyed watching them play there. Their contribution to the club is about more than just on the pitch though. They are always willing volunteers when called upon, they treat fans, volunteers and club officials with respect and they always represent the club well.

I look forward to seeing the team develop under John Pickering and his coaching team, I'm sure there are great things to come from them.

Chat with the Chairman

As I have said a few times, our fans are really important to this football club and I want you all to feel involved, appreciated and above all, heard. So, I want to hear from you. Whether you have a question you want to ask me or you have a suggestion you want to put to me, please get in touch.

Use the below link to get in touch and I will reply to you personally.

Request to chat

Football Returning

We are slowly getting closer to the end of COVID-19 restrictions and when we can welcome you all back to the Millbank. We hope you will all be surprised and happy with some of the changes we have made and plan to make.

Calum will be confirming his preseason plans once we know what is happening with the pitch, but the league season is due to begin either the 7th or 14th August.

Until then, stay safe and stay well.

Dave Jones

Chairman - Runcorn Linnets FC

Runcorn Linnets are to carry over all season tickets for the curtailed 2020-21 season to 2021-22.

Anyone who purchased a season ticket for 20-21 will automatically be able to gain admission to all home league games in 21-22 by presenting the same pass at the turnstile.

Chairman Dave Jones said: "The effects of Covid-19 have now brought a premature end to two seasons in succession and this time, the campaign ended very early.

"With the way the fxtures fell and our cup commitments, we played just three home games in The Pitching In Northern Premier League North West Division before a halt was called just after Christmas.

"All our fans have realised that the pandemic has put a strain on clubs like ourselves, who rely heavily on matchday income. They have been extremely generous and supportive throughout.

"Many of our season ticket holders buy season tickets every year and they had already lost out in 2019-20 season, albeit to a lesser degree as the campaign was much further advanced when the abandonment came.

"While true to form, we have not had requests for refunds from any of our 2020-21 season ticket holders, it is only right that we recognise their understanding by ensuring that they are compensated for their investment.

"We are, therefore, writing off the 2020-21 season and starting with a clean slate by offering these loyal season ticket holders what we hope will be a full campaign of football when we begin again, all being well, in August."

Any 2020-21 season ticket holders, whose circumstances might have changed and are therefore unable to take advantage of the rollover will, of course, be refunded on request.

Essential Grounds Maintenance

Work has begun to make the compound behind the stand, safe and secure. This is being funded through the winter survival fund as it is essential that we make that area safe before we welcome people back to the Millbank.

Paul Tandy and his team of amazing volunteers have put in a lot of hours and the place is already looking a lot better. We'll have some before and after pictures to share with you once the work is completed.

Hybrid Pitch

Now that our season has been confirmed as over (pending FA council ratification) our attention can turn to end of season pitch renovations.

There's quite an extensive amount of work that needs doing to the pitch in preparation for next season and we're hoping to get the work started as soon as possible so we can start using it again and take advantage of the end of the COVID-19 restrictions.

Manager and Board Q&A

Friday's manager and board Q&A session went really well, and I would like to thank all those fans who took part and thank Calum for giving up his Friday night.

I hope everyone enjoyed it, I know I did, and we will look to put on another event in the near future. It would be good to host one of these events in the clubhouse once COVID-19 restrictions allow.

League Restructure

I mentioned in last week's update that with the season being curtailed, the Alliance leagues will revisit the restructure of the leagues at Steps 4-6 and I wanted to give you all a bit more information as to what impact that will have on us.

In the original restructure, which has now been postponed twice due to the last two seasons not being completed, the NPL was due to have an additional division at Step 4 (our level). This additional division would allow the NPL to restructure the divisions at this level to be geographically fairer.

When we were promoted to the NPL the divisions were split as East and West, which resulted in the clubs in the East division travelling longer distances than those in the West division. This was changed after our debut season which resulted in less Midlands trips and more North East trips.

This latest restructure will hopefully result in much less travelling across the board, with more localised divisions.

I do feel that the implementation of the restructure would benefit us as a club, and I will update you all when we get further information from the league.

As always, thank you for reading, stay safe and I'll see you all soon.

Dave Jones

Chairman - Runcorn Linnets FC

Winter Survival Fund

I am very happy to inform you all that we have received confirmation from the Football Foundation that our application for a £15,000 Winter Survival Fund grant has been successful.

This grant will ensure we have the cash to cover our operating costs plus essential pitch and grounds maintenance whilst safeguarding our earmarked reserves. I would like to thank the Football Foundation for their speed in processing our grant claim.

Season Update

The FA have released a statement regarding the continuation or curtailment of the 2020/21 season. They have said that the results of the survey showed that over 76% of all clubs across Steps 3-6 indicated a preference to curtail the 2020-21 league season if it could not be restarted with limited spectator numbers and hospitality before 1 April 2021.

It has been decided that extending the 2020-21 league season beyond the end of May 2021 would not be a viable option and the FA's Alliance and Leagues Committees have reached a consensus that subject to the approval of FA Council, the 2020-21 league season for Steps 3-6 of the NLS should be curtailed with immediate effect, with no further league matches taking place this season.

The statement also says that subject to the FA Council's approval of the curtailment of the season the committees will revisit the restructure plans which have now been on hold for two years.

As always, we will provide you with a further update when we receive any new information from the league or the FA. Although it is disappointing that we have been unable to complete another season, at least we now have clarity which will now allow us to make plans for the future.

In happier news our Junior section will be able to start training and playing matches again from 29th March and this is great news for our Little Linnets. It will be great to see them all back at the Millbank complex.

Floodlights

I bet you were hoping you'd heard the last of our floodlights, but I have a bit of information that I felt was worth sharing with you all. Following the repair, it was discovered that one of the bulbs had gone. When this bulb is replaced we will also take the opportunity to replace the capacitors (one of these going caused the fault and subsequent fire) on the other floodlights, so hopefully we should have no more issues with floodlights and you never have to read about them again!

Pitch Booking System

As I'm sure you're all aware, having the Hybrid Pitch allows us to hire the pitch out to bring in some additional income. We will shortly be launching a new booking system which will allow prospective customers to view the available time slots and then book a slot if it is available. The system will then allow the club to vet the prospective hirer before confirming the booking. The new system will make the pitch booking more efficient and professional.

200 Club Draw

February's 200 Club draw will take place on Sunday 28th February at 2pm, if you do not already have a number but wish to be included in the draw, then please join the club using the below link.

Join the 200 Club

Volunteer Request Response

I was absolutely blown away by the response to my request for volunteers and some of our new volunteers have already started work including attending a working party to help with clearing the compound ready for the much-needed maintenance work to begin. I was there myself to lend a hand and it was great to see how much work has already been done.

If you would like to become a volunteer, then please click on the link below.

Volunteer for the club

Thank you for taking the time to read this update, as always stay home, stay safe and I'll see you all soon.

Dave Jones

Chairman - Runcorn Linnets FC