Football Focus Issue 71 | Page 68

Hyde United FOLLOW FOLLOW US US ONLINE ONLINE TWITTER.COM/FOOTYFOCUSMAG TWITTER.COM/FOOTYFOCUSMAG players in his first team squad at any given time. At Chester on Tuesday eight of the squad were in the Academy or graduates of the Academy with Pete Boyle and OIiver Ford both scoring in open play and four of the six penalty takers were Academy players.” Facilities “We have a state of the art FIFA 2* pitch, a fantastic stadium and a brand new, fully fitted Academy building with classrooms, offices and changing facilities. The total investment over the past twelve months has been £700k and I believe we have the facilities to allow the club to move back up to the conference within 3-5 years.” Commercial “We have taken onto the board a senior non exec marketing manager, as well as employing a full time sales manager and social media marketing manager. We can always do more, but I am happy with the work that is currently going on and the progress we have made this year in commercial revenue generation.” 68 Issue 71 Challenges “The most challenging aspects of any club at our level are financial. Attracting sponsors, advertising and people through the gate is a daily and weekly challenge. Brexit may well cause issues at our level through a reduction in the funding available for projects. Our Academy benefits from the European Social Fund, and I would not like to have to replace this money. We also need to start to deliver success on the field to allow us to maximise brand and its impact and involvement with the people of Hyde and Tameside. We have a detailed five year plan and we need to deliver it.” Ambitions “Our main ambitions are financial stability and promotion to the Conference North with a first team who can consistently challenge in the top ten of this league. We want to increase the fan base to 600+ at home games. We also want to develop a home grown Academy player who moves on to secure a professional contract with a club in the English professional leagues step 1-4.”