This board of directors agreed many months ago that there will be no more director’s loan accounts. That doesn’t mean that the directors won’t put money into the club, but it does mean that their contributions will be gifts not loans and will be modest and infrequent. BUT no healthy football club can or should need to survive just on the generosity of the directors. Long term security can only be achieved if the community really wants and really supports the football club.
Our medium-term strategy for the club is based on this principle and has three main parts:

1. To secure the future of the club by ensuring that the business is self-sustaining i.e. that it does no worse than break even each year without additional borrowing or by spending capital.
2. To substantially reduce the historical debt burden and eliminate the threatening debt.
3. To make ground improvements year by year to the point where Marston Road is ready for National League football.

Success on the pitch is the key to any football club’s survival. At the start of the 2019 season we will be opening the Stafford Rangers Academy in conjunction with the Northern Premier League Football Academy and their sole providers, Eliteform Ltd In addition to making a modest annual contribution to total income, the Academy will provide locally grown talent for the first team in years to come.

Whether we can achieve financial stability is strongly influenced by the number of supporters coming through the turnstiles on match days which itself is directly related to how well the team is doing but we will not jeopardise the club’s future by increasing the playing budget beyond what we can afford – that lesson has been learned. If gates do improve we can consider giving the manger more to spend on the team. That means that we need all true Rangers fans to support the lads through thick and thin. We will continue to make reductions in costs wherever possible and will build on the cost cutting measures already made as outlined in the Chairman’s report.

The social club keeps the football club alive and our commercial team will continue to explore every possible way of raising money by exploiting its facilities. In particular, we will be looking to greatly increase the use of the club as a meeting venue during working hours.

Debt reduction

We have delegated this task to John Macmillan. Item 7 on the agenda is a key part of this strategy and we urge shareholders to support it. John will answer any questions on this topic.

Ground improvements

In the next 18 months we will build on the work which has already been done as outlined in the Chairman’s report. As with the playing budget, we will not attempt ground improvement projects that expose the club to financial risk. Wherever possible we will obtain grant aid from the Football Stadium Improvement Foundation, but they will only fund projects necessary to retain ground grading or which support the first team. For this reason, the football club is unable to offer any financial support to the Shed End project. It is not eligible for FSIF funding and we have no spare money to put into the project. So far as possible, the football club’s money for ground improvements will come from the Boost the Boro Lottery, from the sale of shares and from external third parties other than FSIF. We have three important projects earmarked for the next 18 months. The first is the resurfacing of the car park for which a FSIF grant application will be made in the next few days. We are certain that the improvement to the look of the social club this will make will increase income from room hire which will directly support the first team. Resurfacing the car park will also greatly improve ground safety. The second project is the replacement of the now near derelict away turnstiles which we hope to be able to achieve at no cost to the club. The third project is a major refurbishment of the office and changing room block – including the mandatory provision of changing facilities for female match officials – which is likely to take about 18 months to complete and will probably have to be done in stages as finances allow. The more support that fans give to the Lottery, the more we can do to improve the ground. The work will include major improvements to the insulation and the heating system will in turn reduce running costs.

John Bromley – Chairman
Carol Bailey – Vice-chair
Reg Bates – Director

After our cup exit on Tuesday night we find that our next fixture is also a cup tie. I mean no disrespect to the Walsall Senior Cup but Saturday’s fixture with Rushall Olympic is in the FA Challenge Trophy, and thanks to sponsorship from Buildbase there is much needed prizemoney at stake. It is therefore very important that the fans turn up in big numbers to support Steve and his team as we try to get back onto winning ways.

For many younger fans, the FA trophy is just a national cup competition for non-league clubs with the opportunity of playing at Wembley. Okay, a step 3 may not win the trophy, but everything in football is possible. Just like in the seventies when us older fans enjoyed three trips to that iconic stadium. Just think if we could get a run going to grace the new Webley 40 years on from our last visit when we beat Kettering in 1979.

Standing in our way is Rushall Olympic. Rushall was a small mining village, but over time has now become engulfed into a suburb of Walsall. Football was first played in the village in the 1890s’, and the team had successful times in local leagues and cups. In 1977, they grew in stature as land was leased to form their current ground and they joined the West Midlands League. Steady progress made till changes in the non-league system saw Rushall Olympic move into the Northern Premier League family. 201011 was there major success when Neil Kitching and Nick Ammos (where have I heard those names before) masterminded their promotion to step 3 of the Northern Premier League.

Our recent history with Rushall is not to promising with only one win, 4 draws and 5 defeats. Thankfully our only win was last season when we came away from Rushall with a 2-1 win. Cup football is a bit different and we have had wins in the League cup and Walsall Senior Cup here at Marston Road. However, their last visit to Marston Road saw them end our Walsall Senior Cup involvement.

I will not dwell too long on our current form but see that until recently Rushall were not setting the Southern League Central alight. They lie 13th with 14 points from 3 wins (two in their last two home games), 5 draws and 4 defeats. Seeing some of the teams they have played makes you wonder just how close the boundary was for us and Hednesford to be playing the likes of Biggleswade, Lowestoft and Needham Market. Where we must take optimism, is the cup form of Rushall this season. League Cup defeat to Redditch, FA Cup defeat to Sutton Coldfield and a Birmingham Senior Cup defeat to West Brom sees them without a cup win this season. Let’s hope that can continue with the FA Trophy.

We have played on this date this century 27th October

2001 Canvey Island away 1-5 FA Cup 4th Qualifying round
2007 Cambridge Utd home 1-1 FA Cup 4th Qualifying round
2009 Ilkeston away 3-2 Conference North
2012 Ramsbottom home 3-0 FA Trophy 2nd Qualifying round
2015 Gresley away 1-0 Northern Premier League Division 1 South