Message from the Board Of Directors at Southport FC

The following message first appeared in our Sandgrounder matchday programme on New Year’s Day against Chorley.

We’d like to wish everyone connected with the club, and your family and friends, a very happy New Year. We’d particularly like to thank the our staff and volunteers for their incredible hard work and dedication this past year.

2017, as you know, was a roller-coaster 12 months for the club. For the first time in years, Southport FC is being taken forward by a team of very committed people rather than predominantly one individual.Nothing changes overnight, and, as a Board, we are all heavily involved in improving the club in any and every way that we can. We have all invested heavily into the club, not for personal gain, but to see the club succeed, and hopefully 2018, and beyond, will bring great things.

We’re sure that the next 12 months will be a hugely exciting period for the club, but we know the top priority must be improving our league position. In Kevin Davies we have a young, hungry, driven manager who we believe can deliver success. The Board are firmly behind Kevin in his plan for how he wants to play football, and we will continue to support him in any way that we can.

We believe that the squad is starting to take shape, there’s a good mix of youth and experience and we’re confident that by May, for the first time in a long time, we will have a strong, contracted squad ready to head into pre-season with promotion firmly in mind.

Full-time football must be the club’s ultimate aim, but while in the National League North, we do envisage that the playing squad will consist of a hybrid of both part and full-time players. There are many incredibly talented players at this level who may not, for occupational reasons, be able to accommodate full-time football, and it would be foolish to exclude them. The operational off-pitch side of the club, however, will become full time in 2018 as we aim to make the club as professional as possible.

We want to bring back the feeling of being excited, eager and restless to get through the week to see Southport play on a Saturday. The facilities available to supporters, along with the overall matchday experience, play a key part in that. This coming off-season work will continue on updating and improving the Merseyrail Community Stadium. We want supporters to be proud of our stadium. We are very close to confirming a date in late January when full details on stadium renovation will be presented to supporters.

The club is starting to re-engage with fans and the residents of the town. Bringing new, young supporters into the club is a key aim for the Board, an issue that was also identified by Trust In Yellow, and we hope we can work with them on this point in 2018.

We know Southport supporters have heard so many plans, for so many years, and it is our promise that you will soon see our plans come to fruition.

Up the Port and Happy New Year!

The SFC Board