Football club seek stability

Thursday 21st June 2012

Great Yarmouth FC is looking for a year of stability after the battle for survival last season. Members at the annual meeting were told that the club’s financial struggle was the cause of a "terrible" season, not the management team.

Club officials welcomed the ‘boost of the sponsorship from Derrick Service Limited and donations from Kirkley and Pakefield and the Save the Bloaters campaign, without which things would have been much worse.

A reshuffle in the management set-up will see Mike Derbyshire remain in charge of the first team, assisted by Bob Hepburn, while Lee Hackleton will take charge of the reserves with the help of Trevor Bullen.

Off the pitch, Maurice Briggs and Len Beresford join the club as treasurer and secretary respectively.

Chairman Colin Jones said the main aims of the club were to make it financially stable – but still provide enough funds to compete in the new league.

He said: “My priority is the ensure the survival of the club, I will not compromise on that and there have been sacrifices made to ensure that.

"Last season we had a budget which was a lot smaller than we would have liked and half way through we realised we couldn’t afford it.

“Mike Derbyshire and Lee Hackleton had a difficult task of ensuring we had enough players for every match, a job almost any manager would struggle with. I do not blame the manager for this season as we didn’t provide the necessary funds to compete in this division.

“It’s important to be able to compete in this league with a good enough playing budget. Now if we fail to stabilise the club, that budget would be worthless.

“‘If we don’t get any further in stabilising the club there will be no club."

The pre-season friendly with Dagenham and Redbridge, agreed as part of the transfer of Jake Reed, has been postponed until the 2013-14 season.