A Happy New Year to all supporters as we head into 2025 with the same thirst for success we had at the start of the season. We look forward to welcoming you at Gigg Lane through January as we head well into the second half / business end of the season.
Ahead of this exciting run beginning, the following has been provided as an update, starting with some notes on supporter society matters.
Football Supporters Society of Bury – Elections Re-started
The election process for The Football Supporters Society of Bury (FSSB) re-started on Monday 6th January. Members have been informed of the process, and this can be accessed for all supporters to review on the FSSB website here.
Candidates have until Monday 20th January to put themselves forward for election and to vote in this upcoming election, sign-ups for membership are open until 5pm on Sunday 2nd February. They will close for the duration of the election period after this.
The Special General Meeting (SGM) is set for early March, whereby three elected members will join the FSSB board.
FSSB AGM – New Date to be confirmed
It was confirmed in mid-December that the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for FSSB would be delayed following a review with the auditors. A meeting has taken place with the auditors both before and after Christmas, with resolution on this still to be decided upon. It continues to be monitored and members will be inform of updates to this when they are available.
New Head of Operations – Casey Lynchey
On football club operations, Casey Lynchey has taken on the role of Head of Operations at Gigg Lane. Assisted by the stadium management team, new caretakers to aid with the 7-day operation at Gigg Lane, the football board members and our wealth of volunteers, has ensured the ongoing obligations and daily activity at the stadium, both on and off the pitch, have continued to thrive.
More details on the works being put in place to manage the ground through the winter months, and any impacts the weather has on fixtures at Gigg Lane is expanded on further down this update.
Football Committee in place
As part of the changes in some of the club structures, Interim Football Chair Gareth Castick is now heading up a Football Committee, alongside Manager Dave McNabb, FSSB Director Jon Newby and Head of Recruitment Jimmy Holmes.
This is designed to streamline club decision-making on playing staff, fixture and training arrangements. This has worked well and will be continued until the end of the season and reviewed. Budgets will continue to monitored by this group, to ensure that set out at the start of the season is maintained.
Football Board Member steps down
Football Board member Adam Ingram had informed the board of his decision to step down from this role, and that of Head of Media back in October. He has been working with the media group to ensure a satisfactory hand over in time for new year. Adam leaves with our thanks and best of luck for the future.
Options to bolster this group into the future will be reviewed, with all ongoing media obligations to continue as they are for now.
Applications for a new Commercial Manager to be released
As part of the next stage of developing the commercial department of the club, we will be seeking to add a club Commercial Manager as we progress through 2025. This will be aimed at building on the foundations set so far and continue to build upon the Partnerships Programme released last year. The scope on this role is being developed currently, with applications to be sought soon after.
Pitch Management and Protection through winter
Despite spells of bad weather nationally this winter, the ground and its 3G pitch has remained open to fulfil fixtures and bookings the majority of the time through December and so far into January.
Whilst the 3G pitch has enabled a much more consistent playing surface this season, and allows numerous fixtures to take place each week, it is still susceptible to postponements in bad weather – particularly in freezing or snowy conditions.
On a couple of occasions bookings have had to be cancelled due to the pitch being frozen, and regular visitors to Gigg Lane will note the long-standing issues of the pitch not having the benefit of sunlight across its full area during the low-sun period in the winter season.
There has been discussions with the 3G installers McArdle, around suitable treatments that could be applied and where possible these are being used to maintain as many fixtures and bookings as possible.
The covers used towards the end of last season were only to provide protection from rain and are not suitable to be used to protect the pitch in either freezing or snowy conditions. The suitability of sourcing covers to protect the pitch in these conditions, does also need to be considered alongside the time taken to lay and remove covers to suit the schedule of bookings and fixtures.
Whilst the club’s first-team fixtures are an obvious priority, the wider context of the pitch’s community obligations is a consideration to be factored into this process. The stadium management team are doing all they can to manage this process, and we thank them for the effort in clearing the pitch of snow on Monday (6th) to enable that night’s U23s game to go ahead.
Any impacts on first-team fixtures will continue to be communicated to supporters as soon as they are known, and whilst postponements could still occur, we expect that these will not likely have the same significant impact they had last season.
