Having spent in excess of £70,000 in the past 12 months making the place look the best it ever has, and the envy of some of our rivals, there are still a few tweaks needed. Having tarmacced the standing area behind the near goal, the pitch barriers are now slightly less then the 1.83m allowed from the pitch markings and also in other areas around it has narrowed slightly too below the permitted amount with the addition of advertising boards. We also need to replace the lockable, secure wooden paybox so kindly smashed up by the local youths - the same ones who ripped down the PA speaker, broke the players entrance barrier, smashed open the locked dug out grills and started a fire next to the mains cable behind the stand. Our more recent complaints to the police, the local school and increased CCTV capacity seem (seem) to have put a temporary stop to such things.

As a club we take this issue very seriously which is why a recent social media dig about the size of our pitch was at best, in poor timing. Throughout the summer a small group of volunteers spent every Saturday tidying, painting and trying to improve the facility for our numerous adult and junior teams. Although the league have given us the two weeks before our next home game to put things right the pitch will be narrowed, the barriers at the far end taken down and the goal posts moved forward six inches early this week showing our intent.

The pay box is another issue and we now hope to build a brick shelter surrounded by a lockable grill by the entrance gate. If anyone is able to either help with the cost of this, or donate materials or time/labour to help with the build it would be greatly appreciated - please contact by email chairman@oldlandfootball.com