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Welcome to the New Season 2021/22

Welcome to the New Season 2021/22

Carla Brown3 Sep 2021 - 20:53
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We are finally here, the eve of the start of a new season at Newark Town Football Club here's the round up.

We are finally here, the eve of the start of a new season at Newark Town Football Club.
The past year has been tough, we've faced challenges none of us imagined and despite it all, we are back, stronger and bigger than ever.

Since the end of the season in May, we have said goodbye to some very special managers and volunteers who have been part of the club for many, many years.

Paul Dobb joined our club as a player in the early 1990s and moved on to manage his eldest son's team 13 years ago. He, along with Paul Hampton lead them through to under 18s. It was always a family affair, with Paul's wife Becky taking roles as welfare officer and pavilion volunteer and more importantly long suffering football manager's wife, and their boys have played and officiated for us. Paul joined the Board and his time as Youth Lead has been invaluable to the club. His decision to step down once his team reached senior football was not an easy one, although I am sure he is enjoying his free time. We have certainly lost a truly valuable member of the club and don't think we could express how much we are missing him in the run up to the new season. Volunteers like Paul are rare, and we wouldn't be where we are now without him.

Craig Mountney joined the club 11 years ago managing from under 9’s to the Development/reserves squad as part of the senior setup. Coaching and mentoring his son through the years and joining the Board to help shape the future of the club. Even during tough personal times Craig's devotion to the club shone through. His no-nonsense but humorous approach made our managers meetings enjoyable and he was always there to rally the troops on tournament day. Although he isn't now managing a team he still finds time to travel back to Newark to support the Development and First Team. Another rare diamond of a volunteer who will be missed.

Chris Taylor managed our under 12s team 3 years ago alongside Neil Drewery. Unfortunately after losing a few players the team couldn't carry on. Neil went on to support his youngest son's team and Chris decided to manage a team for his youngest son. They had a great couple of seasons with one player being signed for Lincoln City Academy. Again, personal circumstances meant Chris had to make the difficult decision to step down, and although it's a blow for the club, he has an exciting future ahead with his family.

Our success is built on a foundation of willing and dedicated volunteers. Sharon Bass managed the pavilion alongside Sarah Robinson for many years but they both felt ready to leave it in the capable hands of Liz Andrews who has joined us as pavilion manager and is doing a fantastic job keeping us all fed and watered.

It's not all sad news though. This season we are delighted to be joined by Paul Bryan with the under 7s, Jason Turner with the under 11s, Dom King with the under 12 girls, Daniel Richardson with the under 11 girls. Our under 8's have split into 2 teams and our girls section now has teams in each age group from under 8 to under 15 - 3 more teams than we had two months ago. Our first team welcomed Nathan Arnold as new manager and our Sunday team continues with Colin Rusby at the helm. Stuart Miller is flying solo with the Development team and Julie Roberts returns for another season taking the Ladies to the top.

Thank you to our volunteers, who spend hours nurturing and supporting our players, providing a safe place for them to enjoy playing football and ensuring everyone is given the same opportunities. This season we look forward to positive encouragement, friendly matches and most of all happy players, volunteers and supporters, no matter what the score.

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