PLAYER NEWS
The players had their last training session of this season on Thursday. They will commence training for the new season on Thursday 24th June.

Unfortunately Luke Brown will start next season at St Albans but he will be signing a dual registration with Hitchin Town. Manager Mark Burke thanked Luke for his efforts so far and wished him the best as he steps up to the National League South.

LEAGUE UPDATE
Following the recent release of club allocations within the National League system by the FA, a request was received from Kings Langley FC to the League to consider a lateral move from Premier Division Central to Premier Division South.

It is possible for the League to make a lateral movement within its divisions at the same step and after taking into consideration the travel distances and times, together with the fact that Premier Division South would have been operating with 21 Clubs, the League’s Board agreed to this request.

Therefore, for Season 2021/22 Kings Langley FC will participate in the League’s Premier Division South and as a result Premier Division Central will have 21 Member Clubs for the forthcoming season which will be increased to 22 Clubs from season 2022/23.

ACADEMY UPDATE BY MICHAEL JONES

Day 1
We set off on our trip to Burnley on Tuesday 1st June at 9:30am, and after the 200+ mile journey we arrived at Whitehough Outdoor Centre. We had our lunch and prepared for our first activities, the first being archery which allowed for some healthy competition where the coaches were victorious! We then took part in crate stacking activity where we tried to get two people as high as possible on stacks of crates, working together as a team. Once we had finished the activities we then went for dinner before we finished off the day with two further activities, problem solving and orienteering. After a very long day everyone headed to bed to get some much needed rest!

Day 2
We woke up for breakfast nice and early as we had a match kicking off at 10am against the Burnley shadow youth teams best 3rd year players. The match was a great experience for our lads playing against older, stronger players. The game was very competitive in the first half with us trailing at the break 1-0. It was a very hot day and as the game progressed the fresh legs of the Burnley squad dominated and our lads started to tire very quick and this led to a few more goals being scored from the 75th minute with the final score being 5-0 to Burnley.

We then headed back to our accommodation for lunch and our afternoon activities, which involved leap of faith and Jacob’s ladder. The leap of faith was an individual task where you had to climb a pole, balance on the top and then jump to touch a ball. The lads were very imaginative with their attempts as we saw over-head kicks, scorpion kicks and headers as well as a dropped catch attempt from Hitchin’s number 1 Charlie Horlock! The Jacob’s ladder activity involved climbing up a wooden ladder where the steps became further apart, meaning players had to work in pairs to help each other reach the top. We then broke for dinner which was followed by a quick obstacle course race so we could be back in time to watch the England game! After the game everyone played Fifa, table tennis and various other games which were located in common room area before heading to bed.

Day 3
We had our breakfast before checking out and heading to our final game against Burnley Shadow Youth teams best 1st and 2nd years, which would be even more of a contest. We kicked off the game at 10am and from the start were the dominant team controlling the ball and creating plenty of chances, before getting rewarded for our efforts with a headed goal from a corner by Flavius Drescanu. Unfortunately, this was followed up by Burnley’s first effort of the match an unbelievable free kick into the top corner, finishing half time at 1-1. As the day was a lot cooler in temperature we didn’t tire as quickly and we started to press on in the second half, creating many more chances and in the 60th minute a goal from Hugo Bennent saw us take the lead. We then carried on creating and dominating before a controversial offside goal got Burnley back into the game with 15 minutes to go. This meant the game was to end 2-2.

Burnley coaching staff awarded a man of the match over both days with a Burnley shirt and this went to Flavius Drescanu, although it could of been a number of the players for their hard work and effort over the two games.

We then set off around 12:30pm, arriving back at The Arena at 4pm. It was a great 3 days and the players thoroughly enjoyed it all. We can’t thank Burnley enough for inviting us up and making everything perfect. This is something we will definitely look to do again in the future, maybe next time with a Hitchin first team squad as well!

SUPPORTER ENGAGEMENT UPDATE BY SASCHA GUSTARD-BROWN
With plans for The Aviary progressing nicely behind the scenes, I have started working on a content plan for the Junior Canaries section of the website. It’s important that we offer supporter engagement activities via all of our club channels so we hope to bring new content to the page in the near future. I am also revisiting the idea of an events calendar, which we can hopefully align with the fixtures (once released) to make plans for several exciting initiatives next season.

GROUND AND VOLUNTEER UPDATE BY PAUL SPRAGUE

Ground
So we have now entered the last month before we will be welcoming you back to Top Field. An absolutely amazing amount of work has been done and this will continue over the coming months as we complete the remainder of the projects. Over the next few weeks there is plenty of tidying and cleaning to do. So if you could spare a few hours on a Saturday morning then please come down. We will be there from 9.00 each Saturday – alongside the maintenance work, key tasks on Saturday 12th and 19th June will include the following to really make Top Field shine:

  • Sweeping and weeding the concrete areas throughout the ground
  • Sweeping the main stand and cleaning all the seats

We have a small amount of equipment but please also bring your own tools if you have any.

Volunteers
As we look forward to recommencing football at Top Field we are keen to increase the number of matchday volunteers. As a matchday volunteer you will help ensure that all spectators are provided with a welcoming, safe and enjoyable visit to Top Field. Key matchday volunteer roles we are looking to fill include:

  • Club Shop Retail Assistant
  • Steward
  • Social Media Assistant
  • Turnstile operator (cashless ticket reader operation)

In return for volunteering your time you will be rewarded with free entry to the game. If you are keen to find out more about the roles available then please get in touch with: Kate.deller@hitchintownfc.club.

MERCHANDISE UPDATE BY CHRIS NEWBOLD
Sales of our new brand merchandise continue to flourish. It is a month since we introduced our new brand image and our new range of merchandise for sale, and quite honestly, sales have exceeded all expectations. Over £4,000 worth of purchases has been made, with over half of that amount being spent on the new replica home shirt. 74 home shirts in total, both adult and youth, have been bought, and this is more than we have sold in most whole seasons! Polo shirts are selling well, and a number of folks have hoodies on order… as soon as these arrive we will get them out to you.

We hope that as the new season gets nearer, sales will continue to thrive. If you’ve thought about buying an item of the new range, be it a new shirt or even a mug or pin badge – you can do so by clicking here.

Thanks again for your fantastic support – here’s hoping that when we are back at Top Field, we will see a sea of yellow!

TICKETING UPDATE BY CHRIS NEWBOLD

Pre-Season Friendlies
Prices have now been set for our pre-season matches at Top Field:

Stevenage: Adult £12, Concession (60-79) £8, Teenager £3, Child Under 13 (must accompany an adult) £1, Over 80s FREE

Watford U23 and Bedford Town: Adult £8, Concession (60-79) £5, Teenager £2, Child Under 13 (must accompany an adult) £1, Over 80s FREE.

Stotfold and Beaconsfield Town: Adult £5, Concession (60-79) £3, Teenager £2, Child Under 13 (must accompany an adult) £1, Over 80s FREE.

All tickets must be bought or booked online in advance – this includes Over 80s FREE entry tickets. The online booking office will from this season be kept open until 30 minutes after kick off, or when our attendance capacity is reached, but it is emphatically stressed that there will be no facility for turning up and paying on the turnstiles. The online ticket office is available by clicking here.

Match Day Tickets
For Season 2021-22 we have decided to retain prices at last season’s rates for adults and concessions. We have however decided that an increase in teenager prices to £3 and to charge £1 for children under 13 entries is necessary. Teenagers can make a good saving by purchasing a season ticket at last season’s prices if they wish.

Prices will be as follows:

Adult £12, Concession (60-79) £8, Teenager £3, Child Under 13 (must accompany an adult) £1, Over 80s FREE

Again, all tickets must be bought online in advance.

Season Tickets
We fully appreciate the difficult time that our loyal supporters have had with interrupted and curtailed seasons for 2019-20 and 2020-21. Therefore we made the decision that all season tickets purchased for 2020-21 will be valid for the pre-season and League matches for the 2021-22 season. We will not be issuing new season tickets for 2020-21 season ticket holders – you will not need to do anything other than present your existing season tickets for scanning at the turnstiles, they will be automatically valid.

Season tickets for the new season are now on sale online, and prices are unchanged from last season. These are: adults £185, concessions (60-79) £110, teenagers £25, over 80s FREE. There is currently no child season ticket available – this may be a possibility later when crowd capacities are no longer restricted. These can be purchased by clicking here.

If you have any ticketing queries, we have tried to answer these in our ticketing Q & A section on the website. If you cannot find your answer there, you can email clubadmin@hitchintownfc.club to put your question.

CANARY CLUB UPDATE
Please remember to visit the new look Canary Club. With the sun at last shining great work has been carried out to improve the club garden to further enhance the drinking experience. Canary Club will be an ideal venue to watch the Euros with big TV screens and competitive prices. If you need a venue for a party please consider booking Canary Club. Give Steve a call on 01462 421888 or 07857 983345.

BY ROY IZZARD