**Today we welcome our very good friends and long-time partners from Arsenal Football Club. Can I wish their Directors, Manager, Players, Staff and Supporters a pleasant stay with us and a safe journey home.**
We also welcome the Arsenal stars of tomorrow here this afternoon, who we hope will follow in the footsteps of the likes of Ashley Cole, Jack Wilshire, Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith-Rowe, Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly amongst many others, who all trod the same path and went on to play for England.
For Arsenal’s youth it’s often here at Meadow Park that they sit their embryonic football exams from 15/16 years of age in the AFC FA Youth Cup squads, then through promotion to the Development Squads and then the ultimate dream, a call up into the first team squad and beyond.
Trust me as a club and an environment, we are very proud of our small involvement in that process and love the fact we have been involved with AFC for more than 30 years. Today though we also celebrate not only our partnership, but our friendships and we especially celebrate the signing of two new 10 year contracts with both AFC and AWFC.
Our involvement with AFC and AWFC came from very humble beginnings back in the 90’s…. in truth I backed the Arsenal Women (previously known as Arsenal Ladies) back then and if I’m honest they didn’t really have two pennies to rub together back then haha….
As such, I am very proud as an individual and as a club to have been involved in some small way at the very start of the AWFC journey, and to see what has been built and achieved since then by so many good people at AFC/AWFC is incredible.
Countless League Titles, FA Cups, League Cups have been won here at Meadow Park and our Arsenal Women have now proudly won two European Cups, and to think it all started with my friend Vic Akers and with some Arsenal backing all those years ago is mind boggling. That said, it’s also taken many good people and plenty of AFC investment since – but my god, from very humble beginnings look where it’s gone today.
I feel lucky and honoured to have been part of things way back when and even luckier to have been invited to be part of the Arsenal delegation in Lisbon for their recent Champions League final v Barcelona. I once again witnessed a victory and an Arsenal Woman’s performance that will long live in the memory and all just a week after our very own BWFC play-off victory over Maidstone United that secured our promotion back to the National League.
It was for me an emotional week in football that I’ll never forget, it was a snap shot in time that I’ve worked for during my whole football life. To firstly see the joy after promotion within my home town, my community, my club, my manager, our players and my staff was joyous and utter madness…….to then see the joy on our Arsenal girls and their staffs faces just a week later in Lisbon after beating Barcelona, just reminded me why I do the things I do and invest in football like I do.
In truth it’s why I still invest in the club and why I improve our stadium like I do. It’s why I always look to the future and it’s why I work hard to improve things here bit by bit and step by step.
I hope everyone can see the investment, improvements and progress that we’ve made collectively here. As I enter my 27th season in the Chair I’m just relieved after our relegation 12 months ago, to have bounced back with a promotion and be back sitting at the top table of non- league once again.
My partners, sponsors and collaborators at HBC, EBTC, AFC, AWFC and the Football Foundation have also helped me enormously along the way. They know we must now finish the job at the South End of the Stadium to complete Meadow Park, they know they must help me complete my vision for the Park, for Brook Road Car Park and they know we must complete our Stadium.
It must not be forgotten, this is our community, our town and our club. These are our local residents and my fanbase and Councillors know that future proofing and legacy really does matter.
Today though is about looking after our guests in the Boardroom and on the terraces. It’s about us welcoming our friends from Arsenal, it’s also on a football front about getting minutes into the players, being injury free at the end of the game and about moving intelligently toward the forthcoming season and settling on our squad.
I feel these next few games will be great indicators for Luke Garrard and Charlie Hunter on what perhaps we still need player wise this season as I believe they are still very much in the market for two or three players to improve the squad.
Anyway, back to today, let’s hope for an open, attacking game today and may the best team win.
**Take care,**
**Danny**