Chairman's Blog - We did it!

Well what can I say we only went and won the playoff final 3-1 in front of a record crowd for a competitive match of 1164 in what was a truly amazing day.

A result that is a very special achievement for our football club after spending the last 32 years in the same league so I knew what it meant to everyone connected to the club past and present and for the whole village of Rossington and I am immensely proud to lead the club and seeing my vision come to fruition a vision I clearly setout to achieve on being elected Chairman just over a year ago.

We are a humble club, we all work hard and our clubs commitiee and volunteers work ethic is second to none and what a job our gaffer Ben Hunter and his staff have done by the way and a manager that I have really enjoyed working with in shaping both our visions for the club and a manager that has brought an attractive brand of football to our club and someone that can attract the big name players such as Ross Hannah.

The celebrations went on long into the night and I believe I arived home at 4am Sunday morning so yes Sunday was pretty much a right off being honest but well worth it and I am still on cloud nine.

In other news our Development side continued their impressive push to retain the Doncaster Rovers Saturday League title win an impressive 3-0 win against Adwick Park Foresters over at the Eco-Power Stadium on Friday evening.

Away from the pitch is was a hectic week getting ready for the big game after our semi final win against Wakefield last week starting on Monday where I met with club volunteers to plan the weeks activities.

Monday also saw me catchup with clubs treasurer to go through the club financials after the semi final win which showed a set of impressive numbers even after we paid our gate share to Wakefield FC and our league costs.

Tuesday I just poped into the club during my lunch hour for a quick coffee and took the opportunity to speak with the volunteers and club officials who were down at the ground.

Thursday evening saw me attend training to catchup with the First Team Manager and our Director of Football where we talked about the game over a coffee but it was great to see the gaffer relaxed and feeling confidant and I dont normally stay for all the training session but this week I sat in the stand and watched as the gaffer put them through their paces and they all looked really sharpe and ready for the game.

Friday I took a half day at work and the rest of the day until the early evening was spent suporting the team at the ground getting it ready for the big day and I did have plans to go watch the development side but after a long day I decided to give it a miss but was getting updates from our Director of Football who did attend.

Saturday was game day and I arrived early at 8am to support with game day setup and as always took the opportunity to speak with club officials and our volunteers who in the main was trying to keep me calm as I was very nervous for the game but the rest is history as we did it and I am now a very proud Chairman as we did it in year 1 of my tenancy as I promised the club never publicly but behind the scenes this was our goal and mission.

This week I will be down supporting the ground clean up on Monday after the big game and will also meet the club treasuer on Monday to go through the weekends financials and ensure that we settle the gate share with Horbury FC our playoff final opponents and pay our league fees.

I also promised the players a long weekend trip to Benidorm on the club if we went up so this is now also high on my agenda to sort out.. I know I hearing you all now why Benidorm.. Well I cant share this here but there is a very good reason and a story around why this is the destination.