Tuesday’s defeat against Oxford confirmed our relegation to the Northern Premier League.
Our thanks
We’d like to place on record our sincere thanks to all the young players who have come in and given 100% for Farsley Celtic Football Club over the past couple of months.
They have played for their shirt and have shown some real potential. Results may not have gone our way, but we could not ask any more from our young team, who have stepped up and helped to keep our club going at a difficult moment. There is clearly lots of potential to build on. Our thanks also go to those players who have stayed with us throughout the season.
We’d also like to thank manager David Stockdale for the incredible work he is doing with the players. David inherited a difficult situation and knew the challenges when he took on the role and we’re grateful for his professionalism, commitment and dedication to the club.
We’d also like to congratulate our women’s, deaf and ETS sides, who have all had successful seasons on the pitch and we’d like to thank all the volunteers who support youngsters week in and week out as part of our thriving junior section.
We’d also like to thank the fans who have travelled to Buxton and to our away games this season. We’re sorry for the inconvenience you’ve faced and we know the travel isn’t easy. The support of each and every one of you who have been attending games is very much appreciated.
Our sincere thanks also go to everyone who has donated to our crowdfunder, which has so far raised £14,000 to help secure the club’s immediate future. Please do keep your contributions coming.
There can be no sugar coating the fact that this season has been one to forget, both on and off the pitch.
Relegation is not the end of the story. As a board we are working hard to ensure that the club lives to fight another day.
The rebuilding of the club has already begun and we intend to root the club firmly in the community. This has to be done on a sustainable basis and we know the club needs stability moving forward.
Ground and pitch update
A huge thanks to those volunteers who attended two action days at The Citadel. We are awaiting an official decision from the inspector regarding ground grading and will communicate the outcome when we have it.
Clearly, the biggest issue is the pitch. As we have already stated, our intention is to lay a new grass pitch.
We have applied for a grant from the Football Foundation to help us lay the new grass pitch – a situation complicated by the poisoning of the ground last December. We have spoken to contractors and secured prices for the work. We will hear in June whether the grant application has been successful.
Our aim is to be back playing in Farsley as soon as we can.
We are also set to submit plans to replace our old floodlights. This is an essential piece of work moving forward as they have become unreliable and are also very expensive to run. Our aim is to move from eight pylons to four. The replacement will again be subject to securing grant funding.
Finances
We have already put together a budget and business plan for next season and are confident that we can build a team that will be competitive in the Pitching In NPL. We already have a number of commercial deals in place for the new season and look forward to publicly welcoming our new partners in due course.
Updates
There is lots going on behind the scenes, which we will announce publicly as soon as we are able. There’s also a lot of work still to do.
We remain committed to ensuring a bright and stable future for this football club at the highest sustainable level possible.
Thank you for your ongoing support and patience.
