3 stalwarts of the club step down
3 stalwarts of the club have been presented with a plethora of gifts to thank them for their many years service, as the photos here show they certainly have aged well haven’t they? Jon Uttley (Chairman)and Charlie Mitchell (Deputy Chairman) presented them with their ABAFC shirts, engraved tankards, ABAFC beer, ABAFC hoodies, a book on the history of their supported clubs and a bottle of champagne for their long suffering wives as a small token of the appreciation from the club.
Many thanks to all of these 3 individuals, we would simply not have as kids playing football in such a well organised manner without them.
Mike Wallis
Mike Wallis.
Mike had been Chairman since 2007 until the end of last season and has been (and still is) a Coach at the club for longer than that. Mike in effect had to develop a band of brothers to deal with the ever growing club and challenges that brought. In effect he oversaw the club grown from a social organisation to the non-profit making business that it is now, then we had less compounds, no real academy and limited gravel banding and huge strides were made in these areas. Mike carried out many many jobs behind the scenes from goal maintenance to picking up team awards when no-one else was there to do so. Possibly his largest achievement was the Academy as he saw the need for a structured set up and put considerable time into it, the Academy is now phenomenally well attended and in places we have waiting lists. In addition Mike developed our relationship with Touchline who provide out kit and other accessories and pulled this into an organised process.
In addition Mike’s wife Jane has been a hidden worker for many years managing amongst other things Mike’s own mini-warehouse (his garage) of general football kit and stock.
Richard Haining
Richard Haining.
Richard is still coaching with the club at U17 level and has been doing so since 2007. Richard took the role on Coaching Officer with no real guidance or job spec and put us on the map with regards to being a Community Club and the Charter Standard Award. He set up our Coaching Courses, put in place a structure and made sure we were represented here at Cheshire FA level, not to mention doing pitch inspections at the crack of dawn!
Neil Hutchinson
Neil Hutchinson.
Neil finished coaching last year with the U18N team. As those that know him he is a shy and retiring character (!?) who has been managing pitches and training for 7 years. Like Richard he started the role from scratch and developed the structure we have now to co-ordinate this ever growing challenge. He also developed our reputation with the Warrington Junior Football League and Referees’ Secretary