Essex Senior Leauge Southend Manor have issued the following statement regarding their club's proposed ground improvements. The club is asking people from the local area and football fans who may have visited the club to sign their petition to be found at change.org.
As the statement says like every football club it's not just about the first team and they have lots of other community based non-football related activities that benefit many people.
Their historic FA Cup run in the 2011/12 season saw then beat Takeley, Cheshunt, Romford, Chertsey Town and Leighton Town before losing to Kettering Town in the Fourth Qualifying Round stage.
SOUTHEND MANOR STATEMENT
Southend Manor Football Club were founded in 1955 by Doris and Gilbert Medcalf. Since 1985, we have been proud members of the Essex Senior League and we are subsequently celebrating our 35th anniversary as members of the league that we continue to play our football in.
As of 2011, we had a fantastic FA Cup run that saw us reach the Fourth Qualifying Round before we lost to Kettering Town and missed out on the chance to play local neighbour's Southend United in the First Round Proper.
However as with anything, times have changed for us and we've not been able to replicate those past glories in recent years.
To address several inaccuracies contained in a petition opposing our ground improvements Southend Manor Football Club has therefore created a counter petition as a result.
The improvements include a 1.905 metre high perimeter fence alongside a small 9.6 metre stand on the west side of the pitch. There are no plans for a 3G or all-weather pitch being installed and there will be no bigger crowds coming as a result of this move with access to the beach and the rest of the park not being restricted either. The fence has been designed and coloured to blend with the surrounding area as best as possible. By making these changes the club can retain its step 5 ground grading status of which this plan is all part of a big community project that we are looking to deliver in line with Project Southchurch.
Without doing this work, Southend Manor Football Club will fail its ground grading test by the Football Association which will result in relegation and ultimately being no longer financially viable due to the loss of national cup and league revenues that are available to us.
Primarily speaking, the reason for the fence and stand to be erected is because the site no longer meets Football Association ground grading standards for the level we play at of which without doing so we will be removed from the league.
Access to the site will be controlled by a community use agreement meaning the community can never be shut out by Southend Manor Football Club whilst the fences will also protect our assets from persistent dog fouling and vandalism which have occurred in the past.
We did engage with the community before doing this via our friends at Project Southchurch where we planned a residents meeting to take place in our clubhouse prior to the events of the Coronavirus Pandemic taking hold of Southend and the rest of the country. Although being told you need to find £55,000 with no money to survive is heartbreaking, we have decided to turn this into a positive by using it to springboard the club to be one FOR for the community.
We are promising to you all that
1) Southend Manor will become a club for the community of Southchurch and Southend.
2) We have managed to get an increase in number of SMFC youth teams which will take young people off the streets and teach them vital skills both in football and personal development.
3) Local children will be able receive coaching by professional football club members of our staff. Walking football will be up and running within the next few months to cater for those who still want to engage and be active in our community.
3)We are striving to ensure that disability friendly access and facilities are of use when visiting.
4) Local schools will be able to use our facilities for floodlit matches as per recent requests.
5) Special needs exercise will also be available.
6) We have partnered with community group Project Southchurch to help deliver the following non-sport related benefits:
* Community meetings and clubs including kids summer clubs
* Charity events All of the above confines to our current pitch licence agreement if agreed by SBC.
To summarise, the last thing we want to do is upset and distress anyone however the false claims are not helping this situation. We are happy to speak to any residents with concerns on southendmanoreja@yahoo.com.
We will setup a community meeting at the club as soon as its safe once more. The club really needs the support of the community right now and so far, the support has been amazing, We ask you to please get behind us to keep this historic community club alive.
If you want to protect Southend Manor Football Club's future, please sign this petition. All support is massively appreciated as we strive to be successful once more and more importantly, make the communities of Southchurch and Southend proud in our efforts as a football club and a community club. Thank you.
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