A Word From Shilly: Pre-Season Done, The Real Work Starts Saturday
To everyone connected with Newcastle Town FC whether that be supporters, volunteers, sponsors, partners and the families who quietly make all of this possible. Pre-season is now behind us and it feels like the right moment to tell you where we are and what sits in front of us.
The squad
We’re happy to have got our business done early. It gives you weeks rather than days to build habits, sort out roles, and find out who copes when it’s uncomfortable. We’ve had that time and me and Neil have used it, it been a great education thus far working alongside him.
But let me be clear about something. This iteration of Castle is not the finished article. It’s the beginning of one. We’ll continue to evolve through the season as every club at this level does that’s the nature of Step 4. What we won’t and can’t do is stand still.
The challenge I’ve put to the players is a simple one and it doesn’t change: can you keep improving? Can you keep pushing at your own ceiling rather than settling underneath it? Character always beats talent.
Couple of thankyou’s to Luca Whitney and Joel Jones supporting our youngsters this week. This is important to me and these lads have delivered. Thank you sirs.
Two more in, and three out learning their trade
We’ve added two further signings.
Ben Corfield joins us from AFC Telford United. Taylor Swiftsteps up from our own under-18s, having also had a spell at Alsager Town Fc last year.
Both will be dual registered with Taylor at Stone Old Alleynians, Ben with Tividale. They join Jayden Kirk, who has recently gone to Wolves Casuals on a month’s loan.
I want to be honest about why we do this, because dual registration and loans are sometimes read as a player being moved on. It’s the opposite. We want to develop our own. That’s not a slogan but it certainly is a strategy. You cannot develop a young player on a training pitch alone and at some point they need men’s football where the result matters. That experience is critical to them making the next step, and the next step is back here in a Castle shirt. All three go with our full backing. We’ll be watching every week, and we wish them nothing but the best.
The lifeblood
None of it is paid. Most of it is unseen. All of it is essential.
Players come and go. Managers come and go. The volunteers are the continuity. They are the actual lifeblood of Castle, and everything the rest of us get to do on a Saturday afternoon sits on top of work they did during the week for nothing.
So, before anything else this season: thank you. If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s noticed, it is.
Our sponsors and partners
We are, quite simply, spoiled.
Without the sponsors and partners attached to this football club we could not operate at the level we do. Not even close. I see the investment of time, money, of the favours and theevenings and I see the material impact it has on the Castle community.
It would be inappropriate for me to single anybody out because there are so many of you! So instead: thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for what you contribute. It reaches further than you realise.
Saturday: Atherstone Town, at home, in the FA Cup
This is the 146th edition of the competition, and 651 clubs from the fifth to ninth tiers are competing across six qualifying rounds for 32 places in the First Round Proper. That’s the beauty of it and why we love it at Castle.
Atherstone Town fc will be our toughest test to date. They’ve made a flying start to life in the United Counties League Premier Division South top of the table after three games. Their manager Mitch Thomson is someone I know well from our time together in the Midlands Division. He’s a good operator with a good side. They’ll be organised, they’ll be competitive, and they’ll be ready.
So will we.
Finally… to you
We have a hardy, robust set of supporters, and it doesn’t go amiss on me how much this club means to so many people. I’ve been lucky to be invited along on the journey with you.
My only ask is the one you’ve answered every season beforethis: back these players through thick and thin. There will be ups and there will be downs as is the nature of football, and anyone promising you a straight line is guessing. What gets us through the downs is collective spirit and a clear focus on the next task.
We’ll do it together.
Constantia, Scientia, Prudentia
Shilly
