George Thom

I’ll start my update by congratulating Mark, James, our coaches and all the 1st team squad for a great, well deserved victory over Annan Athletic on Saturday. A good Scottish Cup campaign is our goal every season and to reach Round 4 this season is absolutely superb.

Like all Broch fans I’m still coming to terms with the prospect of heading to Ibrox to face Rangers in January, and I’m sure the boys will do themselves, our Club and the Highland League, proud – a well-deserved reward to our Management team & players AND to our fans, who support us passionately season after season - it’s important the occasion is enjoyed by us all, as history tells us these moments don’t happen very often.

After a great run in the Challenge Cup, Mark has again led our Club to the latter stages of a National Cup competition and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mark on behalf of all Directors for putting “The Broch” on the wider Scottish Football map this season.

We set our financial budgets in late spring annually and it’s fair to say we certainly didn’t forecast for this potential financial boost next Month, so we’ll need to take stock after the game to ensure we are sensible and prudent in our financial management.

For me, the icing on the cake has been the fact that the game has been selected for live coverage on the BBC and moved to a Sunday - here’s hoping we’ll be playing in front of over 50,000 fans at Ibrox Stadium, including a large army of Broch fans, and now with a large TV audience too.

Anyway, whatever happens on the pitch, the situation we find ourselves in will give us an important financial boost –operationally, nothing changes as we strive season on season to generate the income needed to allow us to exceed the ongoing operational costs of our Club, with our priority continuing to be youth development, the team on the pitch, and at the same time, ensuring we are making provision for the nonplaying side to include Bellslea Park maintenance and capital improvements.

Some specific updates since last month…………..

CLUB 1910:

Engaging with, and working with the business community that support us, is really important, and through our varied Club 1910 activities there are opportunities for us all to come together to share common challenges and hear from specialists in areas such as finance, legal, AI and Marketing.

On 14th November our Club 1910 members had a really insightful tour of the facilities at the Ian M Cheyne Building, Wellbank, Peterhead of Score Group, one of our main sponsors. A special thanks to Ian Davidson for organising our visit , hosting us, and sharing how Score has evolved globally over the past 42 years. Thanks also to Greg Smedley and Ross Fenty for showing us all around and giving us a flavour of the various engineering operations that take place in the building.

A real Centre of Excellence right on our doorstep in the North-east.

Our next meeting will be in January or February and details will be posted on our Social Media Platforms.

Please contact me at George.thom@fraserburghfc.co.uk with suggestions on future topics or visits that would be of interest.

EVENTS:

A big thank you to Jason Nicol our Club Operations Committee Member for organising our second “Dress to Kilt” Bonkers Bingo evening on Friday 29th November which was again a huge success – by popular demand there will be more “Bonkers Bingo” evenings next year.

We are organising a number of “fundraisers” for the first part of next year which includes the following:

... Friday 14th March: An evening with Tam Cowan in the Bellslea Park Hospitality Lounge.

... Friday 25th April: Annual Hall of Fame and End of Season Awards Dinner at the Fraserburgh Leisure Centre.

... Saturday 21st June: Charity Walk from Bellslea Park.

... Friday 27 June: An evening with a Key Note speaker at the Marcliffe Hotel, Aberdeen.

More details will be shared at the start of next year.

For the moment we would be delighted to hear from any business or individual who is led to be our headline sponsor for these important fundraising events in our annual calendar - please get in touch with myself or any of our Directors.

COMMERCIAL SUPPORT:

If anyone with Marketing or Event Management experience has an appetite to join our Committee I would love to hear from them – we have a lot to plan for next year and additional support would be greatly appreciated.

SPONSORSHIP continues to be a key source of annual income generation for our Club and we would love to hear from any business or individual who is led to support us on our journey. We have a number of opportunities for 2025/26, including the above events, as we have already started planning for next year, our 115th Anniversary.

CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS:

Club vouchers proved to be popular last year and they can be redeemed for:

... Mid-Season Tickets

... Hospitality Lounge Match Day ticket

... A Bellslea Brick https://www.thebroch. online/sipg/1036

... Our official Tartan items: Scarf, kilt, waistcoat.

Club vouchers are available by contacting us on finance@fraserburghfc.co.uk Vouchers, and our Official Tartan scarfs will also be available at our Matches v. Buckie Thistle on Saturday 14th December, and v. Formartine United U18’s on Monday 16th (In our office and Pie Stand).

Club Merchandise and the full adidas range of our Match Day kit and leisure wear from our only Merchandise and Retail Official Partner, Justrite/ excell-sports.

As part of our Official Partner agreement, our Club benefits from every item of the adidas range sold and now all these new FFC branded accessories – we are extremely appreciative to Steven for his support to our Club.

It is worth mentioning given the Rangers game is only six weeks away, that Justrite will be well stocked with scarfs, hats, beanies and even brollies to keep you warm and dry if you plan to be part of our support in Glasgow.

It’s important to be clear that Justrite/excell-sports are the only business who are approved, and have our permission to sell any goods with our official Club logo, with our Club benefiting financially from all sales.

ADVERTISING:

... We still have over 20 spaces around the ground that will hopefully suit every budget – starting from an annual fee of £180 + vat. Please contact us on stephen.sim@fraserburghfc. co.uk to reserve a Board.

2024

As we draw a close to this year I’d like to take an opportunity to highlight five areas where I feel there has been progress in the Commercial and Financial side of our Club in 2024:

... The appointment of three new Directors – Lorraine Smith, Charles West and Peter-Jon Cowe. All bringing enthusiasm and a different skill-set to complement our existing Board Members.

... Financial Governance: Fulfilling the financial requirements of the SFA, bringing us closer to securing the Bronze Scottish Football License for the 2025/26 Season.

... The launch of Club 1910 – engagement with our Business Community, with membership open to all businesses who support us financially.

... The introduction of our Official Partner Programme to recognise businesses who provide valuable support to our Club financially and “in kind”.

... Reaching agreement with Justrite to produce a 3rd First Team strip which we feel will be popular with our fans to recognise, and celebrate our 115th anniversary in 2025 – this kit will be manufactured by Puma and will incorporate our official tartan and also benefit a chosen charity.

Next Month

In next month’s Bulletin, we will provide a further update on the non-playing side of our Club - please continue to give us feedback on any ideas you have to help us financially or commercially as we journey together. Please do get in touch with me on George.thom@fraserburghfc.co.uk or any of our Directors.

In the meantime I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our fans for supporting us financially this past year - from attending matches, to buying our merchandise, to signing up to our Broch Lottery and joining us in the Hospitality Lounge, supporting our fundraiding events, providing sponsorship and taking advertising space.

We value everyone’s contribution which helps us run the Club as a business and support Mark and James on the playing side of our Club and support our Youth programme.

Finally I’d like to wish all our fans a very Merry Christmas and wish you all good health and happiness in the year that lies ahead.

George Thom, Vice Chairman and Commercial Director