Birtley Town
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Birtley Town
FOOTBALL CLUB
Birtley Town FC suffered the disappointment of relegation from the
Northern League two years but have restructured the club and are now
working hard to secure a return over the coming years. Football Focus
Magazine recently caught up with Club Representative Chris Munro to
find out more.
Involvement
He told us, “I have been involved
with Birtley Town FC for over 18 months.
Before that, I was heavily involved with
Birtley St. Josephs FC, the team that
merged with Birtley Town to try and
save the clubs Northern League status
which unfortunately didn’t happen. In
hindsight, the merge probably should
have happened a lot earlier but that’s
life.
I
run
the
Pitchero
website
myself
www.pitchero.com/clubs/
birtleytownfc and I have been a division
admin on the site for the last 5 years
which involves updating all clubs’
fixtures and results etc. I also manage
the @BirtleyTownFC Facebook and @
BirtleyTFC Twitter pages alongside Paul
Beat, the current first team manager.
For the 2017-18 season, I have taken on
the Press Officers’ role and I am also in
training to take over the role of Secretary
but this isn’t likely to happen until the
2018-19 season.”
The Role
“The rewards of the job are pretty
simple; it’s my hometown club and
a town of our size deserves to have a
decent and well run football team that
can progress up the footballing pyramid.
The only challenges I might face are
getting to the 1:30pm kick offs when they
arrive as I also have a full time job which
involves working 5 out of 6 Saturdays.
I put a hell of a lot of time and
effort into what I do and like to make
it as professional-looking as possible.
I have two young children so juggling
everything together is a bit of a challenge
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but one that I feel I organise well. My
missus might not (definitely won’t)
agree with that one though!”
Atmosphere
“We have made significant changes
over the pre-season so morale is pretty
high. We have confirmed Paul Beat
as First Team manager - after he took
over the reins on a temporary basis
in December 2016 - and we have also
switched a few roles/responsibilities
around.
We have welcomed Paul Hay, the
father of one of our players onto the
committee as Commercial Manager.
Paul runs his own businesses and has
made great strides in his short time at
the club regarding sponsorship which is
absolutely vital to a grass-roots football
team as everyone involved with one will
know. Although our committee is very
passionate about what we do, none of
us really had the time to focus our full
attention to this particular area so his
addition is like a breath of fresh air.”
Last Season
“Last season was the first season
that the club has been out of the
Northern League for quite a number
of years. This coming season will be
our second in the Premier Division of
the Northern Football Alliance, at step
7, which has some very good teams.