WEEKLY BULLETIN: 8TH MAY
As ever the bulletin will continue through the close season bringing you all the news from on and off the field at Hitchin Town including pre-season games and ticket prices together with player news.
Manager’s Notes
Play-Off Final Win over Biggleswade FC
Monday was the game we had been working towards all season and we knew it was going to be an extremely difficult one, playing a team we had not beaten in three attempts who were also on a 10 game winning run!
We were still suffering with some injuries which had kept Taylor Rhiney, Kavan Cotter and Will McNeill out of the squad and Cole Butler was unavailable due to a family emergency. We were able to welcome back Liam Brooks into the squad.
We made one change from the team that played against Thame United in the semi final with Fernando Bell-Toxtle coming in for George Morrall.
Biggleswade FC started the game stronger and had an early chance which Tyler McGregor did well to save. We then had to make a forced change when Charlie Briggs came off injured for Toby Syme.
We then started to settle into the game and get our foot on the ball and this meant we were able to stop the Biggleswade pressure and create some of our own and it was not long before another Josh Bickerstaff well worked corner routine resulted in a goal for Fernando Bell-Toxtle to give us the lead.
I’m really pleased for Fernando, he got to the play offs with Bedford Town at step 4 but was left out of the squad. He has suffered with injuries and set backs during his time with us and he had the disappointment of not starting on Wednesday, so for him to score was even better after everything he has had to battle on a personal level.
Biggleswade continued to be a threat and as the half came to an end they were looking the more threatening and had the momentum.
We knew at half time we were 45 minutes away from promotion but knew we needed a second goal as Biggleswade FC were the late-goal specialists.
We got off to a flyer in the second half when another well worked corner resulted in a goal for Ciaren Jones. We were then in a more commanding position and were hoping to see the game out with no nerves but a penalty allowed Biggleswade to get back in the game and the last 20 minutes became nervy. We were able to hold on to our lead and at full time we were able to celebrate promotion.
What a day Monday was, it was a great occasion. Not only for the result and promotion but the fact we were able to come together as a whole, sell out Top Field and still be able to provide a brilliant match day experience.
I am so pleased for everyone connected to the club. The hard work, effort, support, commitment and belief from everyone to pull together after relegation and all head in the right direction to this moment is nothing short of remarkable. We really showed what a great community club we are this season with everyone being just as important as each other to get us back to step 3.
Message to Biggleswade FC
What a great season your club has had, not much in it between us all season and especially on Monday. I am sure you’ll look back at where your club has got to in such a short space of time and the season you’ve had this year and look back on it with nothing but pride.
Thank you for helping make Monday such a special occasion for both clubs.
I wish you all the best next season and I really do hope you can go one step further this time next year.
Thank You
Thank you to our amazing volunteers you have made this club even greater than what it currently was and your non stop attitude to keep improving and driving this club forward for the community has made it a real special place to be a part of for everyone.
Ground staff I can’t thank you enough for not only providing the best pitch in the league which helps our passing game but for also letting us train on the pitch throughout the season.
To all our supporters your support home and away has been exceptional and your loud noise and positive energy has got us over the line so many times this season. Even towards the end of the play off final the chant of yellows which echoed around the whole ground was a perfect way to end the last match. Thank you for how you’ve stepped up and helped this club in its time of need.
Supporters Trust members for always looking to improve the team and help out whenever you can. Your contributions do make a huge difference to make seasons like this possible. Thank you.
To the players, thank you for those who stuck with us after last season and to those who joined the journey this season. You believed in the vision and got us to the end destination. Thank you for buying into everything I’ve put to you while dealing with the pressure/expectation and for giving everything you have to our club.
To the coaching staff/match day team. Thank you for your full commitment, sacrifice and determination by giving the players everything needed each week to help pick this club back up.
To the board, thank you for trusting and believing in me to meet your expectations and giving me the greatest honour to serve this club as manager. I will always be grateful.
Thank you especially to our chairman Paul Sprague, for your support of me day to day and especially for your support during the bad times this season.
Finally to my wife Hannah, thank you for putting up with the demands of being a football managers wife and not only that but loving this club as much as I do! I could not have achieved anything for our club without you being by my side.
Off Season
I am now in the process of targeting players for next season and finalising players who are staying with us.
We have now completed our pre season schedule for the new season. I will keep everyone updated through the off season with ongoing updates.
For now I hope everyone can rest, recover and enjoy their summer while looking forward to next season.
Academy Update
A great week for our academy players, especially Blue Joy who played 90 minutes in the play off final against Biggleswade FC to help secure promotion.
It’s great to see the amount of academy players and academy graduates that have helped the first team achieve success this season.
We are already looking forward to see what next season brings.
If you would like to be part of the academy or for further information please use this link
Or email Michael.jones@wearescl.co.uk
Michael Jones
Many thanks to Michael who flew out to Crete at 6.00am on Tuesday for a well deserved holiday but I asked him if he could still provide his manager’s notes and needless to say he did not let me down!
Pre-Season Friendly vs Luton Town
We are delighted to announce that we will play Luton Town at Top Field on Saturday 11th July kick-off 1.00pm. This is how the game was announced on Luton Town’s website–
The Hatters will kick-off their 2026/27 pre-season campaign with a visit to newly-promoted Southern League Premier side Hitchin Town.
After returning to training at The Brache on Thursday 2nd July, the first team squad will head to manager Jack Wilshere’s hometown club on Saturday 11th July.
Kick-off is 1pm at Top Field, which played host to over 3,000 local football supporters on Bank Holiday Monday as Michael Jones’ Canaries sealed promotion back to Step 3 at the first attempt with Division One Central play-off final victory over Biggleswade FC.
It is hoped another bumper crowd can turn out to mark the Town’s first senior visit for four years, with recent seasons seeing an Under-21 squad side play the Canaries on a ground we have regularly been able to call home for development games.
Ticket details will be communicated when finalised by the home club, to whom we offer our congratulations on their success this season with former Hatters youngsters Ciaren Jones, Callum Nicolson and Kavan Cotter playing key roles.
Further news of our pre-season games will be announced in the coming weeks.
Chairman’s Programme Notes
My final sets of programme notes from the season have now been added to the website. If you haven’t had a chance to read them in the matchday programme they are available here:
https://hitchintownfc.club/chairmans-programme-notes-march-and-april-2026/
Supporters’ Player of the Season Voting
The Supporters’ Player of the Season vote is open now and closes on Sunday 10th May. You can vote here: https://s.surveyplanet.com/bzt1ixek
Fundraising
50/50 Ticket Sales
It has been a bumper season all round for fund raising as the sale of 50/50 tickets at all home games reached an unprecedented high of £18,667.00 resulting in £9,333.50 in prize money to the lucky ticket holders and the same amount going to club funds. Of the 18,667 tickets sold 6,463 were purchased on the card machine.
The prize money varied throughout the season but saw a gradual increase as the season progressed to its climax. The standout fixtures that generated the most prize money were Stotfold (3/1) – £443, Thame (29/4) – £497 & top of the list Biggleswade FC (4/5) – £976. These games also had the highest attendances.
Very grateful thanks to all those supporters who bought tickets throughout the season thereby helping to raise funds for the club.
A massive thanks to Alan Clark, Roger Berry and Irvin Morgan and Terry Nunn, all of whom have worked tirelessly to promote sales of these tickets in the ground and in the bar.
Player and Team Achievement Sponsorship
The sponsorship raised for April including play-off matches was £689.50. This is made up as follows:
- £311.50 – goals scored
- £205 – defence or other in-game achievements (clean sheets, penalty saves etc.),
- £171 – results (wins, league points)
- £2 – players used in league matches.
This means the total raised for the season was a record £3,429.50 beating the previous best of £2080.80 in 2017/18.
Sincere thanks to all those supporters who have sponsored player and team achievements this and previous seasons. All the money raised goes into the Ground Improvement Fund ensuring that the ground continues to meet the grading requirements of the Southern League and the FA.
If you would like to sponsor any players or team achievements next season, you can either speak to Roger who sells the 50/50 tickets at home matches or email him at roger.berry@hitchintownfc.club
Returned Plastic Cups
You may be aware that two of our trusty volunteers have spent all season collecting reusable cups left in the ground and returned to the bar. Roger Berry and David Tudball do this during every game, and each returned cups to the bar which has had a £1 deposit on it has seen the £1 deposit returned to the Club to donate to its chosen charities.
Over the course of the season, 1,253 plastic cups were returned to the bar by Roger and David, raising £1,253.00 to be shared amongst the chosen charities. Our sincere thanks to Roger and David for all their efforts.
Just as a heads up for next season:
– If you buy a drink at the bar in a plastic cup to bring in the ground, and you are happy to donate the deposit to charity, please place your cup in one of the green bins provided around the ground for this purpose.
– The bar staff will only issue deposits to anyone over the age of 18, the legal drinking age. No deposits will be paid to children. A maximum of four glasses will be refunded per person.
We’ll be doing our best to raise more money for Charity next season, so thanks to all who have helped with this.
Community Update
May Half Term Holiday Courses
The Arena, Baldock – Football Holiday Camps
We are holding our football holiday camps at the Arena, Baldock over the May Half Term holidays starting on Tuesday 26th May to Thursday 28th May for three days
Preston Primary School – Multi-Activity Holiday Camps
There will also be a multi-activity holiday camps at Preston Primary School over the May Half Term holidays starting on Tuesday 26th May to Thursday 28th May for three days
Junior Ability Counts
Our Junior Ability Counts sessions at the Arena, Baldock on Monday’s have two more weeks to run on the 11th and 18th May from 5-6pm.
We will be extending our Junior Ability Counts sessions by offering additional sessions on a Wednesday at the Arena from 5.30pm – 6.30pm soon.
The sessions are open to 5-16 year olds with physical and or SEN but be able to walk.
Safe Hands Goalkeeping Course
Our Safe Hands Goalkeeping sessions at the Arena, Baldock have two more weeks to run from Wednesday 13th May from 5.30-6.30pm with Hitchin Town 1st Team goalkeeper Josh Mollison. The sessions are open to 6-14 year olds.
Hitchin Town FC Walking Football Team
Former Club Programme Editor, and current Talk Sport Commentator Barry Swain, has set about creating a new section within the Football Club aimed players aged 45+ to play Walking Football.
The next free session is being held tonight (8th May) at the Arena in Baldock between 7pm and 8pm.
Walking Football is proving increasingly popular and Barry is still looking for players to join him, whatever your shape, size, ability or experience.
Please see the flyer for more information.
Coaching in Schools
We continue to work in our local schools delivering coaching sessions at:
- Preston Junior Wraparound Care, Lunch Time Clubs and PPA
- Oughton Primary Lunch Time & After School Clubs and PE Lessons
- Icknield Infants After School Clubs and Morning Clubs
- St Mary’s Morning and After School Clubs, PE Lessons & PPA Cover
- Woolgrove Lunch Time Clubs
- Brandles PE Lessons
- Samuel Lucas After School Clubs everyday Monday – Friday (Excluding Thursday)
If there are any schools requiring support for their PE, PPA, After School and Breakfast Clubs please contact Josh Mollison on info@htcfc.co.uk
Mark Burke
Hitchin Town Old Boys at Play-Off Final
The amazing crowd of 3,027 that attended the Play-Off Final on Monday included numerous ex-Hitchin Town players, coaches and managers spanning over 6 decades with a huge amount of success under their belts. The roll call included:
Former Managers & Coaches
- Andy Melvin & Robin Wainwright
- Ian Donnelly (A coach in the Robbie O’Keefe & Kerry Dixon eras)
- Darren Hay
- Darren Salton
- Charlie Williams
- Mark Burke, Adam Parker, Richard Wilmot & Steve Conroy
Players
- Robin Chandler
- Ian Lindsay
- Scott Cretton
- Ryan Frater
- Luke Donnelly
- Michael Johnson
- Charlie Horlock
- Connor Vincent
- Lewis Barker
- Finley Wilkinson
(See Picture – Ian Lindsay, Steve Conroy, Adam Parker, Scott Cretton and Mark Burke)
We also had good luck messages from Tony Luff and Ken Bevis
Mark Burke
Message from Our Chaplain
We’re going up!! What an amazing game of football on Monday. Biggleswade felt like quite a big challenge but the boys definitely rose to the occasion. What a crowd! What an atmosphere! It was such an amazing community event, bringing over 3,000 people together. But it was more than that. As we waited for the presentation of the trophy, a lady came & stood in front of us with her small child. She turned out to be the wife of the Biggleswade Manager. She said how pleased they all were for Hitchin, what a fantastic ground and how well organised everything was. She also commented on the positive atmosphere. That’s grace, right there. Turns out the cup wasn’t the only win on Monday.
Maxine Howarth
Praise for Our Volunteers
We received the following email that shows just how much the actions of our volunteers are appreciated—
Good afternoon
Just wanted to say how much my husband and I enjoyed Mondays final.
I have been to watch Hitchin a few times over the last few years but had not been at all this season owing to the fact I spend a lot of time at the moment in a wheelchair and I honestly thought it was more trouble than it was worth!
I am Michael Jones’ mum so I wanted to be at every home game! I have listened to HTFC religiously and made do with a debrief with Michael on a Sunday morning!
There was no way I wasn’t going to be at the final though although I was extremely nervous being in a wheelchair! I need not have worried. From the moment we arrived at the car park the organisation was second to none!
The car park steward made sure we had a space with plenty of room to get out of the car. We made our way to the clubhouse for a drink. We were outside and another steward came up to us to show us the entrance for us to use when we were ready When we entered we were shown to the disabled area by yet another steward. It was all extremely well organised.
Loved the youngsters with their drum and songs!
All in all it was actually a lovely experience – full credit to all the club’s volunteers they each did an amazing job.
Please pass on my sincere thanks to everyone involved. Obviously the result helped but that aside a truly wonderful occasion and I for one won’t now think twice about attending matches next season
Kindest Regards
Lisa
Next Season
We now are waiting to find out the make-up of the Southern League Premier division for next season. As always predictions are being made and this one came from the Non League Matters website:
