Ely City
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and to break the attendance record at the Unwin Ground twice was truly amazing . The publicity off the back of this has helped to raise the profile of the club . Only earlier in the season we were celebrating 60 years since the clubs finest day when it played in the first round of the FA Cup at the old Paradise Ground .
The main aim for the first team is to avoid relegation which we should hopefully do if we continue the good form of late .”
Youth
“ The Club is trying to move forward with its Youth Football Policy . An integration has taken place over the last couple of years with Ely Crusaders to form Ely City Crusaders and all the teams near enough now play at the Unwin Ground . Although there are still issues between the clubs to be ironed out the focus of Ely City has to be promoting the Youth Football . This season the club has run a new Under 15 elite side in a development league in order to get them ready for the step into Under 18s and men ’ s football .”
Integration
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There needs to be better cohesion with the colts teams to start with and also the community . There are more things that the club could do to promote this and could learn from other local clubs that tend to be a better model as a community club .”
Challenges
For any club at our level it is about sustainability – can we sustain the level that we are at ? On top of these challenges we face include the inclusion work with Ely City Crusaders , gaining new volunteers to support the committee and pulling enough money together to improve some of the facilities around the club .”
“ The re-introduction of an under 18 side two years ago and the addition of an elite colts side at under 15s this season is helping us to improve this transition . The under 18 squad are invited to train with the senior players every week . However the club and coaches can only do so much as the young players have to want to make the step up to the senior level and have the desire to work hard in training and be patient for opportunities .”
Community
“ This is an area I think we can improve on as a club moving forward .
“ For the club itself the most challenging aspect is manpower – run on volunteers you are always on the lookout for more help as it makes things a lot easier at the club if you have more people making an input . Currently we have some of the player ’ s mums doing the food after the game and washing the kit which has been a big help .
Attracting bigger crowds is also a challenge for the club . Our record attendance was broken twice this year in our FA Vase 4th and 5th round matches but then the league matches after returned to below average attendances .
Ambitions
“ On the playing front our ambition will be to sustain the first team at the current level and to embark on more Cup runs to help raise publicity and generate revenue . The aim will be to get the Reserves up one league into the Cambs Premier Division and then to sustain the Under 18s to provide the next crop of players for the senior squads . Off the field , developing the Community arm has to be an ambition of the club to help the club attract more sponsors and more supporters .”
26 Issue 70