Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the players, officials and supporters of Hastings United.

Many of our commercial sponsors are with us today enjoying a lunch in our platinum lounge so a very warm welcome to them as well as heartfelt thanks to them and our other sponsors who were unable to attend today for all of their support of the club.
Without the fabulous support we receive from local businesses the club probably wouldn’t exist, and we certainly wouldn’t be able to carry out the important community involvement work that we do. It’s impossible to overestimate the importance of this financial support to the club so a very big thankyou from me again and if you see one of our sponsors around the ground, please take the time to thank them for their contribution to your club.

What a season it has been, we started like a rocket with goals flying in for us in every game and for a long time we were at the top of the league and then around Christmas the inevitable “sticky patch” happened for a variety of reasons including injuries to key players, a lot of sickness in the camp and a loss of form in a few cases. When you lose momentum in a football season it is a very hard task to bounce back and recover but this group never gave up, they kept giving 100% in every game and even if at times results didn’t go our way, I don’t think supporters could be disappointed with the effort and endeavour. Home form has sometimes been disappointing in terms of results, but our away form has been fantastic, so the challenge next season is to improve that home game tally.

At the time of writing, although we have achieved four wins in the last five games with some outstanding performances, our inclusion in the playoffs is not yet confirmed. However, whatever the outcome of the season everyone can be proud of the team and the club for an outstanding year, some great entertainment and memorable moments.

We will soon begin discussions with our group with a view to retaining as many as possible, there is a lot of money flying around in this league now and we sometimes find it a challenge to compete with the bigger budgets and the “cash” paying clubs, but we will continue to do the best we can within our budget and within the payroll tax legislation. My commitment to a sustainable club with no debt continues.

I would like to thank Jake, Mike and the management team as well as our staff and volunteers for their incredible efforts this season and to this great group of players I say thank you from the club for your hard work and dedication.

Finally, I thank you our fanbase for your support during the season, in the end without supporters there can be no club – so keep behind the lads on the pitch and I look forward to seeing you all in the playoffs or if we are not able to quite make it, on to next season in a few weeks.

Jim Parmenter