WEEKLY BULLETIN – 5TH JULY
IT ALL STARTS AGAIN
After a very short and very topsy turvy close season when we had resigned ourselves to relegation only to get a vey unexpected reprieve it all starts again on Saturday with another home game on Monday. New manager Brett Donnelly has put in countless hours assembling two different squads, one to gain promotion and then having to change his plans to get a squad to compete in the premier division after all.
Why not come to Top Field Saturday and Monday to see all the new signings and the start of a new era. Top Field looks in great shape and on Saturday there is the Cheese and Cider festival as well as a great venue to watch England play Switzerland.
FIXTURES
Saturday 6th July home to AFC Rushden & Diamonds Friendly kick-off 2.00pm. Please purchase your tickets online to get a lower price and easier entrance to the game. The ticket office will be open for credit card only payments but the tickets are more expensive . Online ticket prices are adults £8, concessions £5, teenagers £2, under 13’s £1, over 80’s free.
Monday 8th July home to Barnet Friendly kick-off 7.45pm. The same advice applies as for the Rushden game regarding purchasing tickets. Please note the Barnet game has been brought forward 24 hours to avoid a clash with the Euro semi-final. Online ticket prices are adults £13, concessions £9, teenagers £4, under 13’s £2, over 80’s free.
NEW FIXTURE
We are now delighted to confirm that we will welcome Arsenal U18s to Top Field for our final pre-season friendly on Saturday 3rd August. KO 3pm.
Tickets are available to buy online now. The manager of Arsenal U18’s is Jack Wilshire who was born and went to school in Hitchin so it will be great to see him at Top Field.
SEASON TICKETS
Please note that if you buy a season ticket not only are you getting a good discount but you will be able to see all our home friendlies free of charge. Prices are adults£168, concessions £125, teenagers £40, under 13’s £20,over 80’s free. Please buy your season ticket online to take advantage of this great offer.
SEASON TICKET COLLETION BY CHRIS NEWBOLD
We have now taken delivery of all Season Ticket cards that were ordered on or before Monday 1st July. These will be available for collection at the Match Day Ticket Office window at the Rushden and Barnet games. If these are not collected at either of these games they will be posted out.
Anyone who has ordered a season ticket after Monday 1 July will still be able to attend the game. If you see Kate or Colin at the turnstiles they will be able to arrange entry for you.
MANAGER’S NOTES BY BRETT DONNELLY
This week sees us kick off our pre-season fixtures with a home game against Rushden & Diamonds. Like ourselves they got a reprieve from relegation and don’t want to be in that position again. They have Michael Harriman in as permanent manager now and he turned them around but just didn’t have long enough to save them last season. Thankfully, they got a stay of execution, and he will want to push the club back up the leagues where they belong. Make no mistake this is a big club and I fully expect 100-150 Diamonds fans at Top Field Saturday in what I imagine will be a proper competitive game.
As for us it starts a busy week with Barnet at home and Histon away. It’ll give us a chance to run the rule over those looking to secure deals with us as well as seeing if those lads that we have signed fit into what we want. There is always lots of ins and outs this time of year but I am hoping we have the squad we want already. It’s been a good pre-season to this point with only 2-3 missing so far. These 3 games will show us what we need to work on, what the lads give in terms of performance, attitude and taking on board the basic instructions we give. By the time we go to Stotfold on 30th July I should have the numbers down to where I want them. It’s going to be tough as we do have quality all over so its fully on what the boys produce and how they conduct themselves off the pitch, which as I’ve explained previously, is massively important.
I want us to be hard to beat first and foremost. I want us to work harder than any other team in the league, to press teams into making mistakes. Also I want to play football in the right areas, to get it forward quickly and play in the opposition half. I want us scoring goals I would be happy with 4-3’s. Eddie and I have had this discussion for the last 3 years. He wants 1-0’s, I want 6-4’s! We agree to meet in the middle although sometimes I encourage us to be a little bit more gung-ho, so when we have a corner and its 1 of our defenders v 2 of their forwards it’s all on me. Most importantly I want a team the supporters want to watch. A team that gives everything out on the pitch for 3 points. Some days we will be rubbish, its football, but working hard is a non-negotiable. I want to see it and those paying to get in want to see it. As well as goals in the right end and wins… we want to see those again!
This week we had a good management meeting and everything is positive. We all know how we want to play and what everyone’s roles are. Its massively important having those people around me that I trust and that offer something. I go away (again I hear you shouting) for my proper holiday Monday, so its massively important that Eddie and Jonesy are on the same page as me. They get backed up by Nathan the keeper coach, Chloe and Ryan the physio’s, Nick the kit manager, Del being Del as well as Harry the socials man and now Rob the analyst. We all know how we want things to be and what standards are expected. Believe me I will be in constant contact! And this is my last one for a while.. promise!
Be great to see loads of you down Saturday to see the new faces and hopefully hang around for a beer after to watch England romp home against the world powerhouse that is Switzerland. Mine will be a Holston Pils.
MERCHANDISE UPDATE BY PAUL SPRAGUE
During pre-season make sure you call in to the Club Shop. We have a great new fanwear range (with even more items also available online) and we have our new home and away shirts for sale. The reaction to and sales of the shirts has been amazing, so please note some sizes of home and away shirt are currently sold out but we expect a number of deliveries over the next few weeks so we will try and keep you updated on availability each week. There is approximately 4 weeks lead time between order and delivery but we are trying our best to keep on top of forecasting sizes and sales!
CHEESE AND CIDER FESTIVAL BY ALAN CLARKE
The fifth Cider and Cheese Festival opens at 1pm on Friday where all ciders will be very competitively priced at £4.40 a pint.
There will be cheese boxes available at £6 each with a selection of cheeses to accompany your cider.
At 7pm on Friday the ever popular Sandy Ukulelee Group make a welcome return to the stage.
They’ll be followed by Norton Splinter making their debut at our festival.
See you there and remember the festival continues on Saturday.
MONDAY’S EVENT AT TOP FIELD
You may well have seen Hitchin Town Football Club featured on the national news on Monday As Sir Keir Starmer attended an event at Top Field.
We felt it was important to highlight that Hitchin Town FC do not seek to align or support any particular political party. The event held at Top Field on Monday was not a Hitchin Town FC hosted or supported event. Apart from unlocking the gates to allow access to the ground, no members of Hitchin Town FC staff or management were present for the event.
Our facilities were hired by the event organisers on a purely commercial basis in the same way we hire out our facilities for the use of lots of different organisations every week. We hope this helps to clarify our position on a commercial event that has gained a lot more publicity than we may have expected.
ACADEMY UPDATE BY MICHAEL JONES
We have been on our end of season break from training these last few weeks but it won’t be long before our pre-season training starts at the end of July ready for our season to start in September.
We are also looking forward to finding out our opponents in the FA Youth Cup.
Head Coach Stephen Gleeson had this to say “I am looking forward to welcoming the new players to the academy in pre-season as well as looking forward to seeing the players who are progressing into the second year of their course. We will be looking to enter another competitive team into the FA Youth Cup where in the last three seasons we have just fallen one game short of the 1st Round proper, missing out on playing some football league teams. I am hoping that working with the players on a daily basis we can look to promote some players into Brett’s Hitchin Town FC first team squad as well as providing players with opportunities and experience in other senior teams.”
FREE UNDER 16 SIX A SIDE TOURNAMENT
Pro:Direct Academy— we are hosting our annual 6 aside tournament.
Date: Friday 12th July 2024
Time: 5pm – 8pm
Venue: The Arena, Norton Road, Baldock, Hertfordshire, SG7 5AU
Trophy, medals and footballs for winners as well as other giveaways.
The Bar will be open for refreshments.
To register your interest to enter please use this link – https://www.northhertsarena.co.uk/copy-of-pro-direct-tournaments
BY ROY IZZARD