It’s good to be looking forward again rather than being stuck in the long nightmare that last season became. Very excited by the players George is retaining and signing. George, Zach and the recruitment committee have certainly been busy. Poor George didn’t realise he was never going to be able to take a holiday. One or two more key positions to fill then we have the framework of a competitive squad. Quality not quantity this time. Here’s hoping the gods of injuries are kinder to us this season and we can rediscover the joy of winning a few football matches

• Thanks to the Stones faithful who have jumped on the early bird season ticket bandwagon! Can we achieve 1,000 season ticket sales this season, which would be a fantastic show of support. It really helps cash flow too, which is….

• …very tight at present. We are still paying wages to players with no match day income. It looks like we will make a loss in 2022/23 for the first time in 11 seasons. This doesn’t mean we are less ambitious to rejoin the National League. We still believe we can do so and succeed but we now know there is no margin for error. It just underlines how hard it is for us to stay profitable the higher up the pyramid we go; this in turn means we cannot accumulate reserves – as we did in the first few years at the Gallagher Stadium – for capital projects such as….

• …the away end washrooms and control office. After trying to put off this expensive project as long as possible we have now bitten the bullet and will carry out the works, although it will mean a further injection of capital we could have done without. We are also still considering a new TV gantry, while we can get part-funding help from the Football Foundation.

• Terry and our wonderful team in the office are working hard on hundreds of other club-related issues; running a football club really is more complicated and problematic than most people can possibly imagine. So if you want to know more about how your club is run and ask questions please come to the supporters meeting on Thursday 6th July. You will be able to quiz Terry, Bill, George and myself on any club issues you feel strongly about. We’d much rather field questions in person, fan to fan, than on social media. You will be able to ask about recruitment, about aims for next season, about how we are reorganising our management structure for the better off the field, where we are financially and what is current strategy re possible new investors, what next season’s home kit looks like (!) and meet some of our new players.

• A special shout-out to Mike Littleboy who has been a massive help on our various management projects over the past months; he is running our capital project programme and chairing our charity, The Stones Community Trust. Thank you Mike. And thank you to all our hard-working volunteers!

• A quick shout-out to our business partners and sponsors. You provide essential support to our activities right across the club, including all our community teams. A huge thank you for that. Your club needs you. So please think to introduce us to any friends in local companies who could possibly join the club. We have various sponsorship opportunities still available.

• Finally, people have asked me what has come of the National League Covid funding debacle. In short there has been no direct compensation paid out to clubs who were shafted and no apologies or resignations from the NL board for the abuses of power. The FA have also ignored the scandal and stuck their heads in the sand. We are now concentrating on being an active part of Fair Game, a powerful lobbying group of 35 clubs from NL to Premier League, campaigning for better governance of football in the interest of fans.

Enjoy the summer break and see you on 6th July.

Oliver