Dunbar United
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FF: Is the club doing anything to
maximise its commercial potential?
GJ: This is an on-going battle. We have
a very small committee of hard working
people but they can only do so much.
We need to earn more money if we want
to compete and realise our ambitions.
But raising money is not easy and at
the moment it mostly comes through
sponsorship advertising boards in the
ground and through our weekly lottery.
I think the commercial potential is
large, particularly with our proximity
to the East Coast mainline which runs
trains all day between Edinburgh and
London. A very conservative yearly
passenger figure based on a 50-week year
is 4.8 million passengers, travelling on
the East Coast Mainline and passing New
Countess Park. Advertising boards of the
right size and situated in the right location
will get tremendous exposure and I think
this would be quite appealing in bringing
in major sponsorship, which is what’s
required.
16 Issue 72
FF: What do you believe could be some
of the biggest challenges the club may
face in the next 5 years?
GJ: Our biggest challenge until we
can attract major sponsorship will be
generating enough income to compete in
the higher divisions. The league above
means more travel and this comes at a
cost. Also better players cost more money
and at the minute we are not competing
on a level playing field with other clubs in
our area in that respect.
We need more committee members to
help out the guys that are there now. New
ideas and fresh faces would give everyone
a boost. My main worry is that the energy
levels of the current committee might start
to dwindle, which is only natural when
you are over stretched – this is the biggest
challenge I see. If we can convince more
people within the community to join the
club and build a bigger committee of club
members, then I think we could really
kick on. I sincerely hope we can do that.
FF: What are the clubs ambitions for the
next 5 years?
GJ: We want to reach the Superleague
(one league higher than we are entering
now) and compete for all trophies. My aim
is to be the best Junior team in Scotland.
It’s not over ambitious to say that.
We have the facilities in place to do it.
We have the potential in terms of players
here and are within a catchment area
which could see us add the right quality.
We just need an infrastructure which
allows us to realise these lofty ambitions.
We need the community to come on the
journey with us. If they do, then we can
give them a team to be really proud of.