WEEKLY BULLETIN – 2ND AUGUST
FIXTURE
Saturday 3rd August Friendly Home To Arsenal Under 18’s kick-off 3.00pm. You are advised to buy tickets online but tickets can be purchased on the day (credit card only) from the club ticket office. This is the chance to see stars of the future and Arsenal are sure to have a highly skilled team under the management of Jack Wilshere.
There is no midweek fixture.
FIXTURE CHANGES
There have been a few changes to the original fixture list. Firstly the Leiston league fixtures have been reversed. They will now come to us on Tuesday 15th October and we will go to them on Saturday 25th January.
The Herts Charity Cup fixture with Hertford has been rearranged to Tuesday 20th August kick-off 7.45pm. This is subject to Hertford not being involved in an FA Cup replay.
The FA Youth Cup game with Dunstable Town has been arranged for Wednesday 4th September kick off 7.45pm.
MANAGER’S NOTES BY BRETT DONNELLY
So it’s been a case of a couple of steps forward and a couple back. Friday we looked full of energy and goals, admittedly against step 5 opposition, but come Tuesday we looked slow ponderous and out of ideas. Why?? That’s the million dollar question. The tempo against Edgware kept them on the back foot and we were relentless, but the early goal galvanised Stotfold on Tuesday.
Firstly on Friday I was happy enough. We must get the silly mistakes out of our game quickly. That’s crept over from last season somehow. That said we moved the ball quickly with purpose and looked dangerous nearly every time we went forward. Second half saw our superiority count. Was pleasing to see Trialist B score with some very instinctive and quality finishes. That was a lad called Coree Wilson. He was at Biggleswade Utd last season after a couple of years out and scored 35+ goals. He’s looked sharp in training and in the two games he’s played. I have high hopes for him.
Moving onto Tuesday and it was as bad as I’ve seen. No fight, no passion, no desire to do the hard work, no idea when we had the ball, slow in possession and a massive lack of quality. I was embarrassed by the performance especially first half. Of course I wanted to go back and put on a show for my old side. I wanted to beat Paul and Cal. But the result isn’t important in a friendly, the performances are and we weren’t anywhere near the levels I require. That was the real hard thing to take. But credit Stotfold they defended very well and kept their shape to stop us playing. That’s something we have to be better at this season. It was a big lesson. Exactly what pre-season is for. I was fuming after the game and let the boys know how I felt. I also let HTFC radio know. I’ve been made aware that my interview was unprofessional and not something a manager should do in actually giving his actual thoughts on his players. Well I can assure you I won’t stop being honest and anything I say in an interview has already been said to the said player. It won’t be a regular occurrence but if someone needs calling out then they will be. We are all grown ups.
Thursday we met for training and reiterated what we want and how we want to play. It’s pretty simple. Be busy, work hard, keep your shape and move the ball quickly. The lads knew they didn’t perform and will be looking to make it up Saturday. It’s going to be tough as we fully expect an Arsenal team who will be fit and be able to play a quick possession based way. Should be a great test before the season starts.
Bit of news this week…. Saturdays social went well (judging by Tuesday probably too well). Go Karting champ was Fernando Bell. You haven’t seen him much preseason as he’s had a bit of a niggly injury. But he’s some go karter! He flew round. Last place was Jhai Dhillion, drove round like a blind man! It was a great day that just confirmed we have a squad of waifs, strays, oddballs and loose cannons!
Player news… we have signed Coree Wilson. Josh Keane who has been with us all preseason has earned a deal. He’s improved as the pre-season went on. He still has lots to do but we can all see his quality on the ball and his fitness levels have come on loads. He’s really put the work in. Credit to him. Finally we have added Harry Titchmarsh. He was released by Peterborough Utd and was without a club. He’s been really impressive in the games he has played. Looking forward to watching him progress.
Hope to see a lot of you tomorrow.
Brett
MEET THE MANAGER
On Thursday night Brett Donnelly had a meet the manager evening at Canary Club. As ever he gave an honest assessment of the pre-season problems caused by our reprieve and then reviewed the friendlies pulling no punches.
He outlined his hopes and ambitions and explained how his coaching staff operated. It was a very interesting insight in to the way Brett wants to improve the club. Trust members will receive a full report and we must again thank the Trust. It started in 2005 and has raised thousands of pounds toward the playing budget by asking supporters to make donations.
You can help by downloading the 2024-25-Trust-Pledge-Form, filling it in and emailing it to Rupert Russell. Supporters Trust – Hitchin Town FC
CAR PARKING AT TOP FIELD 2024/2025 SEASON BY DAVID TUDBALL
The Club have regrettably had to make changes this season to car parking arrangements at Top Field. Over the past few seasons, as attendances have grown at Top Field, the car park has been under increasing pressure on matchdays. We require increasing numbers of volunteers and staff to deliver matchdays and have also found increasing numbers of teams with players travelling by car rather than by coach or minibus.
Unfortunately, we have also found that some supporters vent their frustrations at finding the car park full and direct abuse towards our car park marshals. As such we felt it was important to have an updated set of clear and unambiguous rules of use of the car park on matchdays.
In order to ensure that all essential personnel from both teams can be safely accommodated in the car park on match days, the following criteria will be applied.
Parking will be ONLY for; Club Officials, Management Staff and Players of both teams. In addition to Match Officials, Match Sponsors, and Match Day Volunteers.
There will therefore be unfortunately NO parking available for either home or away supporters.
The exception to this is for Registered Blue Badge Holders for both home and away supporters.
We would ask them to contact our club in advance of the game by emailing tickets@hitchintownfc.club and requesting a space. This will ensure that a suitable parking space is allocated to them.
There is limited street parking close to the ground but please respect our neighbours.
The nearest public car parks are:
- Bancroft Car Park, Bancroft SG5 1PP
- Lairage Multi Storey – Bedford Road SG5 1GN (Saturdays only as closes 6.45PM)
This policy will be effective from 1st August 2024 and will apply to ALL 1st Team Matches.
VOLUNTEER UPDATE
A huge thank you to the volunteers who turned up Sunday 28th July to help trim and tidy the perimeter hedge to the Football Club. It was a huge task and we managed to get it done in super quick time. This was all due to the amount of people who kindly gave their time. It really did make short work of it.
We are indebted to you, Allan, Paul, Matt, Steve, Mike, Sarah, Chris, Steve, Rebecca and Dave.
If you want to help join our wonderful crew of volunteers please do contact Kate by visiting this link and using the e mail. Volunteering – Hitchin Town FC
Volunteering – Hitchin Town FC
CLUB SHOP
Our new range of merchandise is selling really well. Why not visit the club shop at the Arsenal game to see for yourself how good the selection is. If you cannot get to the game please visit the online club shop.
PLAYER AND STAFF SPONSORSHIPS
Last season we raised around £1500 courtesy of our generous supporters digging deep into their pockets and sponsoring their favourite players. From gaffer to subs we had them all and hopefully we can find a sponsor for each of the squad this season.. More details here:
Player & Staff Sponsors – Hitchin Town FC
COMMUNITY UPDATE BY MARK BURKE
Hitchin Town Community Football Club
Schools have all broken up for the summer holidays and we have been busy putting on Holiday Football camps at the Arena in Baldock as usual as we have done for numerous years.
We also launched a new Activity camp at Preston Junior school which is one of the schools we work with during term time.
First team player Lewis ‘Fresh’ Franklin is the lead coach at Preston delivering breakfast, lunch time and after school clubs as well as PE lessons during the academic year.
He led on the Activity camps at Preston in the first 2 weeks of the holidays, aided by Fraser Melvin. They had great time although Lewis’ bike riding skills leave a little to be desired.
The courses were available to all children aged between 4-12 years old and were a huge success and will be operated again in the October half term.
Please note children can sign up for the camps even if they do not attend Preston Junior School.
Meanwhile, at the Arena another first team player, Stephen Gleeson has been helping on football holiday camps for the past 3 weeks. Here he is seen presenting Leo Maamria with his most improved player of the week award from the second week of the camps.
Leo is a regular at our camps and you may recognise his surname as he is the son of former Stevenage Borough and Burton Albion Manager Dino Maamria.
Congratulations Leo!
HITCHIN TOWN WOMEN FC UPDATE BY CALLUM ELLIS
Preseason Continues
It has been a strong start to preseason with several players from both teams returning.We hope to announce soon our retained lists.
We train on Wednesday evenings between 19:30 – 20:45 at Baldock Road Recreational Ground, Letchworth Garden City SG6 2EL.
We will train here till Wednesday 28th August 2024 before heading to The Arena, Norton Road, Baldock on 4th September 2024.
Both HTWFC teams compete within the Beds and Herts Women’s Football League, so if you are an experienced player looking for a new club or have been out for a while then we have positions for you. If you are looking at trying something new and football is on the bucket list also get in contact! Players have to be 16 years plus to compete within the league.
Please contact hello@hitchintownwomenfc.co.uk
BY ROY IZZARD