This season has been challenging both on and off the pitch. Like many, we are facing escalating fuel prices and other rising costs for fundamental services and commodities which have significantly impacted our resources.
Despite these challenges, our dedicated committee members are working tirelessly behind the scenes to maintain our stadium, ensure good club governance and trying to organise functions to help bring in extra income.
As we all know, football can be very unpredictable, and we are not in the league positions we hoped to be at the start of the season, but we are confident that with hard work we can get ourselves in a safe position. Both the men’s team management are putting in immense effort, which makes their role a full-time commitment.
The women's adult team is doing well in Division 1, currently sitting in second place in the table and looking for their third promotion in three years.
Our Women's U18 team is currently in sixth position in their league. As a young team, they are still on a learning curve, but they are committed to improving and will undoubtedly strengthen the Women's Adult team in the future.
The veterans play in the Harrogate and District Veterans League and are struggling at the bottom of the table, but they must play on different pitches because we rarely have the opportunity to offer them Manse Lane.
Running five teams takes a lot of hard work and dedication. It would be great if they could all play at Manse Lane, but although the pitch is greatly improved, it won't accommodate all the teams. Therefore, the Women's U18 and Veterans must play on synthetic surfaces elsewhere and if the weather has been wet on a Saturday and the Women’s open aga team are due to play Sunday, they often get postponed.
As many know, we have exciting plans for Manse Lane to try and offset this, and we hope to announce more good news later this season.
To our loyal supporters who attend week in and week out, we extend our heartfelt thanks. Your support is invaluable in sustaining football in Knaresborough. We also express our gratitude to our sponsors, whose support is crucial for us to compete at our current level.
On behalf of the club, we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and we look forward to an improvement in results for the second half of the season.
Yours gratefully,
Paul Howard and Nigel Corner
4 January 2025