Case Study: Newport Pagnell Football Club
Introduction
The Club has been around since 1963 and has grown over the years. In 2008 it had around 20 youth teams, a Reserves team, and a 1st Team. Today the Club boasts around 30 youth teams, 5 senior teams, and they have an educational piece for 16- to 18-year-olds who come and study – around 450 players altogether.
Participants come and play for Newport Pagnell Town in the Under 19 League in partnership with Soccer Assist. They also have Disability Teams, Under 14s and a Men’s Disability Team. They have a Disability Training Team called Bobby Cats on Sunday mornings, plus a Girls Teams now. There’s a Women’s Team and Kickers, which is for 4- to 6-year-olds, and there’s a Walking Football Team.
The Club tries to reach out into every area so we can be as inclusive as possible and offer something to anybody that wants to get involved. Their hope is that kids will of join the club at age 4 and then there’s a pathway to go whichever direction whether that’s into competitive football, or just playing for fun, and to continue playing until whatever age you want.
Before the club existed, originally the football pitch used to be over by Bury Fields and then it moved to where it is today.
The new stand
A Popular Club
The Club had a youth player last season, who was also involved in our partnership with Soccer Assist. He was playing in the 1st Team and Reserves and then he was signed by Luton Town. He’s now got a Pro Contract.
They also had a player called Bobby Knight who originally started playing with the Club at the age of 4. He’s about 18 years old now, but is playing for 1st Team, so he’s gone all the way through the system.
The Challenges
The club’s biggest challenge was that they had always wanted to expand because the crowds were steadily increasing. However, Covid changed the goalposts! Even though they had quotes for what it would cost for the stand, when it came to getting materials together, the prices went up which resulted in the Club needing to find more money than expected.
When the Club was in the FA Vase, tickets sold out and 1,800 spectators watched the match. They were all either standing around the perimeter or sitting in either one of our two older stands.
That was the maximum capacity the Club could comfortably hold at that time. However, the new stand has given the Club the option to have up to an additional 350 spectators.
Anyone interested in going to watch any of the games at the Club can buy tickets for £8 (adult) and £6 for a concession. There’s a football match most weekends and it’s generally either the Reserves Team, or the 1st Team playing on Saturday afternoons. The Reserves Team are the Club’s youngsters, between 16-18, feeding in from the Youth Teams.
View from the stand
The FA Vase
What were you trying to achieve with the Gift:
Part of it was because the Club held the FA Vase run. They wanted to do something tangible to leave after that. But also, Steve Dart was connected to the Club and his children played there too. Unfortunately, Steve passed away earlier in 2022. Originally the stand was going to be half the size it is but the Club decided that would be a great legacy for him as well as leaving a legacy for the Club, enabling the community to come in and watch a game under shelter from the rain.
The Football Club knew about The Harry Middleton Gift as the Club previously needed help with some new goals and were awarded the money. So, they used the Gift in that capacity and believe that we also helped when replacing the roof on the Clubhouse, so the Club approached them once more as they were short on the fundraising.
Applying for the Gift was straightforward for the Club. All they needed to do was fill in an Application Form, which is downloadable from the website, and answer some questions about what the Club needed to buy, where else they were getting funding from to go alongside it, and what contributions were being put in from the Club itself. The decision took around 3-4 weeks to get a decision. The money was then awarded on completion of the new stand.
The stand cost £45,000 and The Harry Middleton Gift contributed £5,000 of this amount. £13,000 came from a Football Foundation Grant and the rest was secured by fundraising and a JustGiving page. The Club and the Youth Teams really got behind it to do something worthwhile for Steve.
The stand was custom built by Sports Ground Development. Before the stand was erected there was a long row of conifers which had to be removed.
Completed in 2022, the Steve Dart stand, which is expected to last for many years to come, has a capacity of 350. For the opening, the Club held a Memorial game where Steve’s friends and family played, plus other members of the Club, and made an afternoon of it. The Club has two other older stands available at each side of the pitch which hold 100 in each. The full capacity at any given game can now be around 2,150.
Further developments
The Club is now looking to replace the original perimeter fencing that runs around the pitch, originally added in the 1980s, which is looking a bit precarious in places. It is also looking to replace the two dugouts which are not big enough anymore, plus they have holes in them.
This fencing is going to cost in the region of £25,000 and the dugouts will be around £9,000.
The stand
Julie Ford
Advice for organisations wishing to be awarded a Harry Middleton Gift
“It’s simple to apply for but do make sure you have a robust case. Make it clear what you’re trying to achieve and explain how it’s going to benefit the community.”
Julie Ford, The Newport Pagnell Football Club Oracle