Stopper nets 500

Cameron Belford says he is ‘still as hungry as ever’ as he will make his 500th career appearance this weekend against Whitby Town in the Northern Premier League at Marston Road.

The goalkeeper, who boasts an extraordinary amount of clubs in his career, playing in the football league, in Scotland and at non-league level, is looking forward to the occasion on Saturday.

Belford has played for: Bury, Tamworth, Southend United, Accrington Stanley, Mansfield Town, Rushall Olympic, Swindon Town, Wrexham, Stranraer, Forest Green Rovers, Chorley, Nuneaton Borough, FC United of Manchester, Radcliffe and Stafford Rangers in his illustrious career.

Incredibly, the 34-year-old will step onto the pitch today for the 500th time in his career and he’s certainly looking forward to the day and his future in the game.

He said: “I’ve been lucky enough to win things in my career, to win promotions and cups. I still want to win things, I’m still as hungry as ever to succeed in football.

“It’s going to be a good occasion. To get to any milestone in football is massive.

“If you’d have asked me when I started my career if I thought I’d get to 500 senior career appearances I’d have said ‘it looks a long way off’. To get to 500 is a really proud moment for me and my family.

“To have played a few hundred games in the football league and Scotland, and to continue on the back of that at a very good level in non-league, is a big achievement for me.

“I wasn’t aware of how many games I’ve played until somebody pointed it out about six months ago, and since then I’ve been keeping track of it and trying to get to the milestone.

“500 is a big one, a lot of people aren’t lucky enough to play a handful of games at this level, the level above or in the football league as I have.

“It is a big achievement but let’s see if I can get to another, another 100 maybe and see where I can get to until my legs fall off,” joked Belford.

The goalkeeper has featured in front of goal in every single Rangers game so far this season with 11 clean sheets.

Belford emphasised how much Stafford Rangers and non-league football means to him saying: “I’m thoroughly enjoying my time at Stafford, it’s been possibly one of my best seasons for a while in terms of my own personal performances.

“There’s some great people around at the club and hopefully we can kick on from now to the end of the season and pick up a few more results and see where it takes us leading into next season.

“I still feel like I’ve got a good few years left in me yet and there are some milestone’s that I still want to get to in terms of games and appearances. I still feel at the level I’m at right now that I’ve still got a lot to offer.

“Long may it continue and let’s see how far I can go from 500 onwards.

“From a family point of view with my Dad and brothers we’ve been around non-league football for a very long time. People don’t understand what it means to people at non-league level.

“There’s lots of things that happen behind the scenes with volunteers who aren’t paid and it’s a really good vibrant place to be, especially Stafford. The people behind the scenes are fantastic, it’s a great club to be at.”

Get your Votes in Now!

As we get closer to the end of the 2022/23 season; we can now open up our ‘Player of the Season’ for your voting. You can either vote online here, or at the ground by completing a voting slip.

Should you wish to cast a paper vote you can do so by picking up a form at the programme hut at either our next home game, on Saturday 25th March against Morpeth Town, or the home game against Whitby Town on Saturday 8th April.

The cut off time for voting online is on Wednesday 12th April, so please help us by casting your votes early, to ensure that your vote counts.

Stafford Rangers thank all supporters for getting behind the team and the club throughout the season and we look forward to seeing you at the final few games of the 2022/23 campaign.

VOTING HAS NOW CLOSED

Experienced Striker Signs in

We are excited to announce the signing of striker Nathan Blissett following his release from AFC Telford and we would like to thank Kevin Wilkin and his team for facilitating this move.

Standing 6’5” tall Nathan has spent the majority of his career playing at Football League and National Conference level. He has appeared for Bristol Rovers, Lincoln City, Cambridge United, Tranmere, Plymouth Argyle, Kidderminster Harriers and Solihull Moors to name a few. His experience leading the line will be a major asset to us in the final push for a play off place.

Welcome to the BORO Nathan

Nathan is now available for sponsorship. We have two available sponsorship packages for each player along with the Manager and Assistant Manager.

Both player and management packages are £150 inclusive of VAT.

• You will get your name or business mentioned on the Web-Site and in the Match-Day Programme.
• You will receive a selected replica shirt (Home or Away) signed by the entire squad OR a Casual Shirt.
• 1 Ticket to the ‘End of Season Awards Dinner’.

Our back room staff packages, are £75 inclusive of VAT. No extras included.

Please contact our commercial team now, by emailing commercial@staffordrangersfc.co.uk or by ringing Roy Sales on 07921 943112 if you wish to sponsor Nathan, or any of our Management or back room staff. But hurry hurry, as we only have two slots available for each !

We are Going Green!

We are delighted to announce that we have partnered with Instavolt UK to provide 2 x 120kw Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Points at the club, which will be located on the car park. These will be some of the fastest chargers in Stafford.

Instavolt UK are the leading providers of EV Chargers in the country and part of the huge EQT group, a global investment organisation.

Work on installing the EV Chargers starts on Friday 24th February and the works are expected to be completed by Tuesday 28th February. During the installation some of the car parking spaces immediately in front of the main office will be cordoned off to provide a safe working environment.

Instavolt are installing the EV Chargers free of charge and will responsible for all future maintenance, with the club receiving an income from every charge made.

Initially two chargers are being installed, with the potential for more chargers to be added so we can meet future demand.

From individuals through to company car and van fleets we believe this should prove to be a success and deliver am immediate excellent option to all local businesses.

The EV Chargers will be able to fully charge two cars simultaneously within 30 minutes.

The proposal was initiated through the SRFC Business Development Group and drawn up from scratch by Ben Alcock with the full agreement of all Board members.

The EV Chargers will be a community asset that will be available to everyone to use and will allow us to become greener and demonstrates that once again Stafford Rangers are more than just a football club!