Season ends – but for some work just begins

May 27 2009 by Colin Paterson, Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

FOR many football fans, the season is officially over.

But Albion Rovers chairman Frank Meade now finds himself in the midst of the busiest time of the club’s year.

The action might have stopped on the pitch, but there is no let-up in the number of jobs that need carried out away from it.

Preparations for a new campaign are already underway at Cliftonhill with Meade and his tiny band of helpers determined to ensure Rovers hit the ground running when the players return to pre-season training in the middle of next month.

“This is our busiest time of the year because there is so much to be done ahead of the new season,” Meade told the Advertiser.

“This is a time for catching up on maintenance around the stadium and staying abreast of all of the health and safety aspects.

“We also have to make sure we satisfy the fairly rigorous criteria on behalf of North Lanarkshire Council for the continued issue of the stadium safety certificate.

“There are various returns we have to submit to the SFA and SFL and we are in the process of selecting and ordering new kit.

“Our accounts are due on June 30 so they have to be filed, with audits to be done, and on top of that we have to make sure we meet SFA licensing requirements.

“Some of our supporters come in and help out with odd jobs around the place and running Rovers is almost becoming a 365-day-a-year operation.

“A lot of organisation has to be done and it is quite demanding. You have to make sure all of the paperwork submitted to the league is correct or it gets sent back.”

Meade says Rovers will be gunning for a play-off place when another league campaign begins – but insists the club will stay true to its thrifty principles.

He added: “The targets remain the same. Paul is ambitious and we, as a board, are ambitious.

“We are aiming for the play-offs. There is no point in any of us being here if we don’t have aspirations or want to play at a higher level.

“But it is tough when you have clubs paying a lot more money than we are able to pay.

“We need to make sure we maximise the return of what we spend and I think that is something we have pretty much done over the last three to four years.”

“We run the club on the basis of affordability.

“We simply won’t spend money that we haven’t got but we are always looking to improve the quality of player we have.”