DUNSTAB le TOWN f.c.

Creasey Park Drive, Brewers Hill Road, Dunstable, Beds LU6 1BB

Dunstable Town FC is a Community Benefit Society. It is registered under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 Registration Number 8667 as Dunstable Town Football Club Ltd dire CTors

Andrew Madaras

Chair / Secretary / Director of Community Activities & Matchday Operations

Matt Carrington - Vice Chair / Treasurer

Neil Barker - Director of Partnerships

Peter Bottom

Supporters’ Groups Director / Fundraising Manager

Gary Levy - Director of Football

Kristy Lewington

Director of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusivity

Lee Nania

Director of CBS Growth & Marketing / Business Consultant

Julian Nutley

Commercial & Marketing Director / Business Consultant

Dan Roberts

Director of Specialist Community Projects

C ommuni T y benefi T so C ie T y T eam

Adrian Witkowski - Membership Administrator

Yvonne Verla - Mental Health Ambassador

Ian Bateman - Walking Football

Patrick Mackay - Walking Group

Lee Nutley - Chums and Crumbs

Andrew Madaras - Sphere at the Glider

Lou Goodman - Volunteer

C oa CH ing s Taff

Joe Deeney - Head Coach

Kyle Durcan - Assistant Head Coach

Anthony Christophi - Coach

Ayub Nabongo - U18s

Adam Ashton - Physio/Sports Therapist

Steve Lewington - Kitman

C lub offi C ers & offi C ials

Brad Cawthorne - Digital Manager

Jeffrey Roy - International Supporters’ Ambassador

Abby Slough - Marketing & Advertising Manager

Liam Smith - Events Manager

Wayne Upton - Community Activities media T eam

Brad Cawthorne - Website/DTFC TV

Chris White & Liam Smith - Club Photographers

Matt Carrington - Social Media

Abby Slough - Instagram

Richard Scott - Programme Editor

Fly Design & Print - Programme Printing m aTCH day Team

Wayne Upton - Matchday Manager

Brad Cawthorne - Matchday Cameraman

Andrew Madaras - Match Reporter

Amanda Madaras - Turnstile Manager

Dan Roberts - Matchday Merchandise

George Lewington - Matchday DJ

Chris Gray - Matchday Steward

Bradley Field & Mark Williams - Stewards you TH se CT ion

Andrew Madaras - Chair

Wayne Upton - Vice Chair

Kristy Lewington - Secretary/Club Welfare Officer

Christian Baxter - Treasurer

Steve Chiswell - Assistant Welfare Officer

Wayne Upton & Joe Le Vien - Football Development

Jeff Abraham - Parents Representative

Karl Clarke & Steve Lewington - Social Media

“management is a lonely job. i’m fortunate i have a great group of staff in Kyle durcan, Jamie nicholls, lee Cowley, anthony Christophi, adam ashton, and Joe reynolds but ultimately every decision lands at my door.”

Welcome to the management, players, supporters, and all those associated with Hoddesdon Town ahead of this afternoon’s clash. It is only a week and a half since we last played Hoddesdon at their ground in the reverse fixture. We won 1-0 on the day but it was a hard fought and difficult 3 points to get and I have no doubt today will prove to be another tough game for us.

Before I get into the game and our emphatic win on Tuesday night against Cockfosters, I want to begin by thanking the 134 brave souls for attending. It was freezing on Tuesday evening and still so many came out to support us all. The support has been fantastic and makes a huge difference. I am delighted about our 5-1 win and our lads certainly gave you all some excellent entertainment.

I have learned to enjoy wins much more which is something I have made a conscious effort to do. I have had the balance too wrong for too long. I take the defeats too hard and don’t enjoy the wins enough. I am certain I will never be able to get used to losses so I may as well enjoy the wins. The advice is “Never too high, never too low” from experienced managers, but I must have missed that class when that advice was given out.

One thing I never allow myself to do is get carried away when things are going well. One invaluable lesson I’ve learned throughout my coaching and management career is the minute you think you have cracked it you crash very quickly and believe me there is no soft landing! I have mentioned it several times before but one of the biggest words in my coaching criteria is adaptability. It is critical to be able to adapt. We have showed an excellent ability to adapt for most of this season. We have been able to adapt systems with ease and adapt and deal with conditions, pitches, and weather amongst many things.

The need to be able to flip between systems is all about our ability to simply WIN. I never pick a system or players to nullify opponents, I always pick players and systems to expose the opposition weaknesses and most importantly WIN! I know I must have said WIN 100,000 times in the last couple of months but ultimately that is the only thing that is important to me.

I hate losing and whilst I have got marginally better at compartmentalising defeats, I never get used to that feeling! Winning football matches on the other hand is the most addictive feeling there is. If you could bottle that feeling of winning and sell it in pubs, bars and alcohol companies would go out of business.

Whilst the last 14 days have been great in terms of results, we all know that there is so much more to do and so much more to come. The last 2 weeks have really continued to reiterate my belief in my group and why I stay strong to my beliefs and don’t listen to outside noise. Management is a lonely job, ask any manager out there and they will tell you the same thing. I’m fortunate I have a great group of staff in Kyle Durcan, Jamie Nicholls, Lee Cowley, Anthony Christophi, Adam Ashton, and Joe Reynolds but ultimately every decision lands at my door.

My staff are great and are always seeking ways for us to improve but believe me we clash over things which is healthy. If I had listened to the 5,000 opinions a week, then our hat trick hero Kelvin Osei-Addo wouldn’t have been here. I have never stopped believing in Kelvin. It’s very easy for people to jump on the “Praise Kelvin” bandwagon now and he deserves huge credit. It was satisfyingly ironic it was another wonderful assist from Luke Dunstan who himself has been given too much unfair criticism that led to Kelvins hat trick. The faith I have had they are repaying, and I am sure that will continue!

I appreciate we all have opinions, and everyone is entitled to theirs. We are all on the same mission though and that is our common quest to win, and I love the passion we all share. Trust me, trust my staff and most importantly trust my players, we will do absolutely everything we can to ensure we keep winning!

I am immensely proud to be the Head Coach of this football club and work with the best people I’ve had the privilege of working with. Without our great Chairman and Directors, my great coaching staff, our players, the media and social media team, the programme editor, the 50/50 ticket sellers, our gate people, our kitman, our registrations secretary, our team sheet writers, our podcasters, our merchandise sellers, our sponsors, our owners, and fantastic supporters who follow us every single week we don’t have anything. Everyone is a part of the Dunstable Town family and believe me EVERY ONE of my players is desperate to do well.

We need everyone pulling in the same direction for the rest of the season. I love the passion and intensity we all have which matches my personality. All I want is for us all to support all my players. Any criticisms you have please always fire them at me. I’m the Head Coach, I’m big enough and thick skinned enough to take it. I have a mantra I’ll share with you all. When we win it’s all about my players, when we lose it’s all about me! If my players don’t play well, it’s because I haven’t used them correctly.

Let’s all hope at 5pm this evening we are celebrating another 3 points, but it certainly won’t be easy.

Enjoy today’s game.

Joe Deeney

A very warm welcome to our opponents, Hoddesdon Town, who visit Creasey Park this afternoon. We look forward to reciprocating the wonderful hospitality we received on our visit to Lowfield, just over a week ago. We hope all their party have an enjoyable afternoon with us and have a safe journey home.

Tuesday marks the first anniversary of the death of Aaron Bateman. Aaron, as many of you will now have read or learned via different media sources, was killed by a pub doorman outside the Wheatsheaf pub on High Street North a year ago.

Along with several other Club volunteers I went to one of the sessions at Luton Crown Court to show my support for Ian & Charlotte.

The tragedy of the events of that evening were laid bare for all to witness. A senseless and mindless act of aggression committed in the complete absence of provocation ended Aaron’s life and turned upside down the lives of his family, friends and loved ones.

They include several of our own Club volunteers who were with Aaron, Ian & Scottie that evening.

All bear witness, as do so many others here at the Club who knew him, of Aaron’s gentle nature, a kind word for everyone, and not a malicious, cruel, or prejudiced bone in his body.

A unanimous guilty of manslaughter brought by the jury has seen some of the darkness of the occasion replaced by shafts of light and when sentencing takes place on March 15th we trust that justice will be served and Aaron’s good name and good character fully restored.

We’ll be away at Harpenden Town that evening but supporters who want to remember Aaron will be able to get into Creasey Park throughout the day to lay flowers at the Aaron Bateman stand or just pay silent respect in his honour. We’re very grateful to James Slack & his staff team for allowing people to remember Aaron in this dignified manner.

Tuesday night saw us complete our fourth successive victory, with a comprehensive and well deserved victory over Cockfosters. Kelvin Osei-Addo leapfrogged his way into becoming the Club’s top goal scorer this season with a first half hat trick. Danny Webb’s decisive fourth goal was worth the price of admission itself and Dylan Baker nearly broke the net such was the ferocity of his thunderbolt right at the end.

It was a cold night but even then, the lads were well supported by a noisy crowd of 134 which was higher than five of the eight Step 4 games played on Saturday.

It means we go into today’s game in 5th place, seven points behind leaders, Stotfold, but with two games in hand. The next five weeks sees us play twice a week on Tuesday & Saturday. There are some “six pointers” in the mix there, particularly away fixtures at Leighton Town, Crawley Green & on the very last day of the season at Stotfold.

The Autumn hiccup, results wise, hit us hard with injuries and suspensions seeming to come all together. Without wishing to tempt fate, Joe has pretty much a full squad to choose from, although Manny & Kyle Faulkner have both picked up knocks, but the very good news is that Terrence Muchineripi is back at training on Thursday nights. Adam has him building up his fitness so no ball work yet but how wonderful it would be to see Terrence back in a blue shirt before season end.

The Club were pleased to announce that U18s Captain, Axel Piesold, had signed for Luton Town & sat on the bench for his new club in their away match against Grimsby Town on Tuesday night. Axel captained our U18s at the start of the season and featured for the first team at the end of last season and during preseason. His accomplished performance in the away victory at Ardley Utd on the last day of the season, won the 17 year old a deserved Man of the Match award.

We wish Axel all the very best with the Hatters and pay tribute to his coaches in our U18s who have nurtured his talent and allowed him to develop and facilitated his move to our Championship neighbours.

Thank you as always for your support today, be loud, be proud but please be respectful of our opponents and our match officials.

We look forward to seeing you all next Saturday when Leverstock Green are our opponents, but before then, please remember Aaron for the wonderful young man, and passionate supporter of DTFC that he was.

“In spite of it all, life is beautiful.”

Andrew Madaras