Chairmans Report for Steyning Town Community Football Club
AGM for Year to 31st May 2025
Our previous season finished with a league & cup double for the 1st team, and promotion to the Isthmian South East League at Step 4. After accepting the resignation of the last manager just a week before pre-season, the agreed solution was to ask Gerry Murphy to step in and manage the 1st team, and to make sure we had a playing squad & coaching team for start of the season. We thank Gerry, Tim, the other coaches and players that stayed for their loyalty and all their efforts. In November we welcomed Mike Hamm to STFC as Assistant Manager/Coach and made a positive impact. Hammy will now be taking on the 1st team managers Role going into the new season 2025/26.
The Isthmian League proved to be a big jump in quality and after a bright start, the remainder of the season was tough for everybody. Although relegation looked on the cards for most of the second half of the season, the efforts & loyalty from the coaches & players was there for all to see. The final outcome was relegation back to SCFL, but we finished the season on a high playing some good football, and picking up some good results & performances. Personally, BBH away stands out as one of the best of the season.
We did not run a U23 Squad during the season. Jon Roberts came in to manage our U18 SCFL North squad, & John Verrall (one of our U16 parents) took on our U18 MS Squad. Both squads did ok, and we are pleased to say that both managers will be continuing in their roles for the upcoming season.
Massive thanks again to Danny, Geoff & Craig for a successful season in the Womens L&SERWL finishing a very respectable 5th place in the league, also with some decent cup runs. After some good recruitment, a younger squad can only go on and improve even further. We also had our first U18 Girls team which finished in 2nd position in their league, just missing out on top spot after losing their play off game. These players now progress to become our Open Age Squad and we hope to see some of them step up into the Women’s team. Our current U16s girls squad will now be U18s, but unfortunately we say goodbye to Sian as manager who we thank for all her efforts over the years (along with the younger girls coaching on a Sunday). The plan and strategy around the female game still remains in place and on schedule.
All our boys & girls youth teams had positive seasons with our outgoing U16s teams finishing well, especially the U16Whites who won the league & cup double again for the 6th year in a row! Several other youth teams gained pRomotion, and some teams also made it to their respective cup & plate finals. Player & team numbers continue to grow, and we are hoping to add another new Girls youth team to the club for the new season. We are also excited to enter our U16 Boys team into the JPL league for next season.
Our big task this season for both ground grading & because we needed to update them, was to build the new Changing Rooms/Referee/Medical Block, including new external fencing turnstiles & stands. A massive effort from a large group of volunteers giving us their time, materials, knowledge & support to help build what we now have. As I write this, we are about one month away from hopefully completing this mammoth task. Too many people to list and thank here…. You know who you are. I must mention John Verrall who has been amazing in leading the team.
In November, Ian Nichols our Chairman suffered from ill Health and it was clear that his focus was going to be on getting well & his family. With regret, we accepted his resignation as Club Chairman. Very pleased to advise that Ian is recovering well and we look forward to welcoming him back to the club in his new role as Club President very soon.
The committee and non-committee work effort goes from strength to strength, and we welcome on to committee Gerry Murphy who will be coordinating Mini Kickers & U18 Boys. As always, I would like to give my personal thanks for the fantastic work the committee does, without them we would not be able to operate at such a high level. They are all special people who put so much work in to make our club what it is and always striving to be better. Special mention to both Aelred Wilkinson & Dave Rowland for their massive efforts behind the scenes.
I could mention lots of other unsung heroes at the club, starting with our young 61-year-old apprentice Groundsman Colin Sowerby. He is here when nobody else is and works hard to keep the facility running in the background. Special mention also to Simon Jones & Callum Jones. We are very grateful to all our club volunteers, whatever they do. These are the people you might not see that make a grassroots club run as smoothly as possible. Thanks also to Michelle Barber and her team, who continue to do a great job of running our Clubhouse Bar & Kitchen. As I write this, we are just finishing our Tournament Weekends in June which have proven again to be one of the best tournaments in Sussex and highly successful. Thanks to Cov and his team for all their efforts on this.
Thank you also to all our Sponsors, whoever you are and whatever you are sponsoring.
We are very much looking forward to the new season and wish all our teams, our managers/coaches and players good luck!
Paul Hart, Steyning Town FC Chairman, 1st July 2025
(photo shows our Chairman Paul Hart welcoming Michael Hamm to his role as First Team Manager at the Club)
