I would like to welcome all the fans, players, staff and directors of Wycombe Wanderers back to Edgeley Park this afternoon. A lot seems to have happened since we played them here in the FA Cup early in December.

We have climbed 4 more places in the league and now sit just one place behind Wycombe. They were 4 th when we met here so have slipped a couple of places but are still securely in the play off places. Wycombe have also had their massive Carling Cup semi final ties against Chelsea, which, even if not quite successful on the pitch, have given them a financial boost. It took me back to our semi final games against Middlesbrough 10 years ago.

During the intervening weeks the Board asked me to take over, temporarily, the roles of Managing Director and Club Secretary. I must admit that it has been a steep learning curve albeit an interesting one. One thing that has struck me is the way that colleagues in other clubs have been more than willing to guide, help and advise me over this period. One person in particular that I would like to thank is Keith Allen of Wycombe. His help is much appreciated.

Until a few months ago I was like most fans and had no idea about what was needed to run a football club, away from the playing side. Just like any other business, I thought! Well, I was wrong.

Certainly, I was not prepared for the amount of paperwork that needs to be filled in. I had some idea of what was required to transfer or loan a player (up to 8 separate forms, 4 copies of each) but I didn’t know about all the forms required on each match day. For many years there has been talk about the paperless office. Not in football there hasn’t! It doesn’t help that we have two governing bodies, the Football Association and the Football League so they both require copies of reports and contracts.

The Board have advertised for a General Manager and we will be following the same sort of interview process that we followed in appointing Jim as the team manager this time last year.

Once we have made that appointment I will be able to move back to my role as a director but with a much better understanding of what it takes, behind the scenes, to run a football club in League 2.

I would like to thank all of you who are taking part in the Coca Cola Buy A Player competition. Unlike previous years, County WILL benefit from the prize fund this year.

By how much is down to all of us but I certainly want to see Norman Beverley having the club crest tattooed on his arm. Not because I am a sadist but because it would mean that we have won at least £50,000 towards strengthening Jim’s squad