Terras Times Jun 2019

Southern Football League Champions 2018/2019

TERRAS TIMES The newsletter of the Weymouth FC Supporters Association

ISSUE 14 June 2019

From the Editors Chair Welcome to season 2019/2020 and life back in the Conference structure with Weymouth FC. We have covered in depth what that means to us and others and we hope you are enjoying the summer and some well earned time away from the every day emotions of being a non-league football club.

For some there has been little if no time away from the Bob Lucas Stadium with a large amount of work going on behind the scenes to get the ground ready and raring for the new campaign.

Its always relevant to mention the amount of volunteers who keep clubs up and down the land going and naturally I think and feel that WFC has many among the best.

This month we cover the departure of Brandon Goodship and meet some of the new players coming in to help us make our way through the latest adventure.

UPDATE I am writing this added paragraph the morning after the first friendly of the season where we won 3-1 at Hamworthy.

Jeff Stelling will be happy as A Trialist bagged a hat-trick for the Terras although at the time of writing, no official deal has been announced for this player ;0)

James Brandon Goodship Weymouth FC’s most prolific striker of recent years, Brandon Goodship is off to the football league.

There are plenty of viewpoints on what the club could and should have done to get a sell-on for him, but the facts are that we aren’t a club who wants to gamble on long term contracts and we have to ensure that we continue to get the sort of players in who can develop and get a future in the game using our club en route.

It will be interesting to see how he gets on in League One , I hope he does well, but for now he is the past and we have plenty of new boys to get behind in the future.

The positive view is that, who knows? We might be able to get some one even better!

Chairman’s Chatter It has been another busy off season both on and off the pitch. I hope you have all enjoyed your summer break and are making the most of the lovely sunshine we are currently experiencing.

The pitch crew have been working very hard and I have to say the pitch is looking really green and lush, thanks to a very wet June and a lot of mowing!! As I write these notes, the new roof on the main stand is now in place with just some finishing details left to complete. The next phase of improvements will be replacement of the seating in the main stand which will be done as soon as the scaffolding comes down. Then finally the floodlights will be upgraded to LED lighting, all in all, much needed improvements that will make our wonderful stadium even better for home and visiting supporters.

Hopefully you will have seen the excellent news the club won £25,000 of building materials from FA Trophy and FA Vase sponsors Buildbase! This is wonderful news. The Football Club have an ambitious plan to totally revamp the disabled facilities at the Bob Lucas Stadium. In addition to this, we have met with a supporter with limited mobility and are in the process of obtaining safety approval to install handrails and grab rails at strategic points around the ground. All positive moves to allow us to appeal to those who are less mobile but want to enjoy the freedom to move around the ground independently.

Finally, but most importantly, I need to appeal to you all for your help and support. We are relaunching the Football Clubs very own lottery, The Claret & Blue Lottery, with a view to entice more players to aid our fundraising. The aim is to ensure the money raised goes directly towards the playing budget and we have the support of our club chairman and board to achieve this. There are great cash prizes on offer each month, the more players, the bigger the prizes will be!! So if you don’t play the Wessex Fantasy Football, then this may be for you! All it costs is £5 per month for 1 number of your choice in the draw, (subject to your number of choice being available of course!!). The rules are quite simple, you have to be over 16 years of age to play, you can have as many numbers as you wish, the draw is made on the last Thursday of each month and your payment must have been received for that month prior to the draw for your numbers to be eligible. Watch out for details on the main club website and across social media.

Thanks for reading.

Pete Nash Weymouth Football Club Supporters Association Chairman “The Terras Supporters Club”

Kit news…

Our new season 2019/2020 away kit will be available (supplier permitting) ahead of the new season.

Naturally we want to keep details about this as close to our chest as possible ahead of an official launch, but we are looking forward to showing it off.

Welcome to WFC !!!

Brett Williams—Sutton United Andy Robinson—Havant & Waterlooville Adeoye Olumuyiwa—Blackfield & Langley Ollie Harfield—Dagenham & Redbridge After a slow start to the window for the Terras we have been adding to the squad over the last few weeks whilst retaining key personnel from the title winning campaign.

The list of players above might not be massive names or that well known in Dorset (yet!) but the clubs they have represented and the successes they have had mean this can be a stronger squad next season for the massive challenges ahead.

Success with Build base

Going through the fixtures…

All at the WFCSA would like to pass on our congratulations to the successful bidding team who represented the club at Wembley, securing Buildbase funding for disabled facilities at the Bob Lucas Stadium.

Like most people I spent a bit of time taking the fixtures in on their release yesterday.

The £25,000 of materials will be really useful in enhancing the clubs access and match day experience for supporters with disabilities.

One that stood out was the away trip to Chelmsford which evoked memories of a Christmas visit there over 20 years ago.

Pitch squares

The club is selling its successful pitch squares again but according to Director Jo Walkinshaw you will have to move quickly to secure yours.

Contact the club via squares@theterras.co.uk to get yours.

Some of the names on there being glamourous and some not so much.

It was in the promotion season under Fred Davies but we had been through Managers and players galore that Autumn before the likes of Mark Robinson and Mark Gammon came in to supplement those at the club already.

Would I call that day the turning point?

I would say yes. City were playing their matches at step 5 Maldon Town and weren't prepared for mini buses and cars full of Terras fans invading the club house and roaring their side on to a 3-0 win.

We went on to win the league that year and I for one can’t wait to go back to Essex again.