CHAIRMAN'S WELCOME David Morris gives his latest thoughts ahead of today's match

from Ashby Ivanhoe VS Paget Rangers Saturday 20th August 2022

FIRST TEAM UPDATE Andy Gray gives his latest thoughts ahead of today's match

DAVID MORRIS CHAIRMAN'S WELCOME

Good afternoon & welcome to our first Saturday afternoon game of the season. Our visitors today are Paget Rangers who come to us with a perfect record of 4 out of 4 so far this season, we are off the back of a fabulous 7-0 victory on Tuesday so today promises to be a great game & we welcome Paget & their players & staff to Ashby.

As always pre-season has been a very busy time, not least because the football club is expanding very quickly and loads of positive news to report which I will cover in the coming weeks. For now the headlines are Ivanhoe will have 30+ teams wearing the blue next season ! Of course we will have the first team which you will see today, Andy Gray has assembled a terrific squad with a great atmosphere within it, we’ve had terrific support for the games so far & that has spurred the boys on to a good start which we hope continues ! After let’s just say a messy season last term The Knights have a new & experienced management team, they have also assembled a strong squad and they should really be worth watching this season ! On to the junior section which has grown amazingly over the Summer, Mark Scriveror has taken over the role of Head of Junior football & we will now run 26 boys teams & 4 girls teams which is a huge increase. Brilliant work by Mark, Dave, Sade & Steph on those many registrations, & by Mark Rowling, Lee & Neil on the many kits required, also Jon & Manny on where they will all play !!! Finally where it all starts is the Saturday morning Soccer School, Robbie Avins has taken this on & it’s grown from a small base up to attracting 35/40 a session, in fact so many attending we have added a “Development Squad” session which has provided the platform for the formation of 3 more new teams, wonderful to see.

Lots of other news but I’ll save some of that for future issues but much of which can be found on our social media pages so please give us a follow so you’ll always know of developments at the club.

Last 2 things, we finally have a club shop for Ivanhoe wear & replica kits, visit that via our website (I’ll give you more info next time) etc & season tickets are available to purchase now, which if you attend most games at The NFU are great value.

Finally, if you are a sponsor, coach, parent, supporter old or new thank you for choosing to spend your Saturday afternoon at Ashby Ivanhoe we hope you enjoy the game, good luck to Andy & the boys, come on Ivanhoe !!

Dave Chairman

P.s. To Charlie Tissington who has not been too well recently, great to see you & best wishes for your continued recovery.

If you are visiting the ground by car please DO NOT OBSTRUCT the junction to Cambrian Way by parking on the grass/path verge as this is both dangerous and you could get a fixed penalty notice from the Council and or Police.