News - June 2008

Grays Athletic‘s pre-season fixture against Havant & Waterlooville has been cancelled, the squad will now face a Portsmouth FC XI on Monday 14th July at 14:00, the venue for this fixture will be at the Wellington Training Ground, Stoneham Lane, Eastleigh.

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Grays Athletic would like to welcome Keith Burns as our Match Day Stadium Manager, Keith will be responsible for the smooth running of the Stewards and Ground Staff at our home fixtures, he will report directly to the the board

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Judith Woodward has been appointed to the role of Corporate Director at Grays Athletic Football Club, all requests for any Corporate Hospitality Bookings should be made to Judith via the clubs main number, 01375 377753.

Details of Corporate offers can be found here

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Grays Athletic have secured the services of Simon Downer for the 2008/09 season, Simon will be signing a contract with the club on Saturday 28th June 2008.

Simon said he was pleased to be back at the club and wants to prove himself to the fans during next season.

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Subject to the completion of a medical and pre-season trial both Barry Cogan and Jeff Goulding will be joining Grays Athletic.

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Welcome to the first of our monthly updates, we are hoping to produce these on a regular basis to keep you informed of the progress both on and off the field at Grays Athletic.

The Club

The club have been very active in the transfer market since the end of last season with the introduction of the following players:
Sam Sloma
Stefan Bailey
Steve Arnold
Jamie Taylor
Charlie Ide
Rob Gier
Mark Molesley
Mark Haines
Stuart Elliott
Ishmael Welsh

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People may have read in different newspapers, certain articles relating to Grays Athletic Players, who were offered deals at the end of last season, being linked to various clubs.

As stated, new contracts were offered to players but as of yet they have not responded, as time passes the club continues to seek new players and we have made some valuable acquisitions.

Should those players decide they would like to take up an offer they may find it is too late.

No club should be at the whim of an individual player and for a club to be successful it must have the dedication of players wanting to play for the club NOW, not when there are no other offers on the table.

Phil O‘Reilly
Club Secretary

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Grays Athletic have completed the signing of ex Dagenham & Redbridge Midfielder, Sam Sloma, Sam started his career at Wimbledon and has played for Hampton & Richmond, Aylesbury, Wingate & Finchley before moving to the USA where he played in the A-League for Milwaukee Wave United.

During 2005-06 he was on loan with Thurrock before joining Dagenham & Redbridge, Sam can play left midfield or left defence

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Following the closed season break Grays Athletic players will be returning to The New Recreation Ground on Saturday 28th June 2008, once they have had their morning brief and training session all the players will be in the Clubhouse from 13:00, so if you want to find out who is who from the new signings or to catch up with the established players you can meet them all then.

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Grays Athletic have secured the signature of ex Queens Park Rangers Midfielder, Stefan Bailey, on a years contract, Stefan started as a trainee with QPR in 2004 and signed his first professional contract midway through the 2005/06 season, he is a tough tackling, hard working midfielder

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Grays Athletic are pleased to announce the introduction of Corporate Hospitality to The New Recreation Ground

Make your match day experience something to remember, for as little as £500 six people can enjoy a meal including drinks prior to kick-off then watch the game from the executive seating area, light refreshments will be served at half time followed by post match drinks in the Corporate Lounge

We can accommodate up to 30 people and prices can be tailored to suit number of guests.

Please contact Phil O‘Reilly or Kevin Lamb via email graysathletic@btconnect.com for further details and bookings.

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Following the Annual General Meeting of Grays Athletic (1982) Ltd there have been some changes to the Board of Directors:

Judith Woodward has resigned her position as Chief Executive due to personal reasons but will remain a full director.

Fred Barnard has resigned his position as Vice Chairman

The board thanked both Judith and Fred for the hard work and dedication whilst in those positions.

Votes were taken and Fred Barnard was elected to the Chief Executive position and Kevin Lamb was elected as Vice Chairman.

Chairman, Mick Woodward, was pleased with last season and wants to carry on the momentum of moving the club forward and feels that he has the right people on board to maintain this drive and ambition.

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Grays Athletic have signed ex Norwich City Youth & Reserve Keeper, Steve Arnold, on a one year contract.

Steve had previously played for Boreham Wood and spent some time as a youth with Arsenal

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Due to West Ham United bringing a very strong side to The New Recreation Ground on Saturday 2nd August for our last pre season friendly, this game will now be an all ticket fixture; there will be no tickets available on the day.

You can obtain your ticket for this game from the main office or from the ticket office at our other pre-season games.

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From the start of the pre-season games any person requiring Concession, Student or Junior tickets to Grays Athletic home fixtures will require proof of age when purchasing match day tickets, the club apologise for this inconvenience but this change has been put in place due to some people abusing the system over the past few seasons.

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Why not watch the Euro2008 competition on the multi-screens in the Grays Athletic Clubhouse?

All games that kick-off after 16:00 will be shown in the bar

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Grays Athletic have released their Season Ticket prices for the 2008/09 season:
Purchase prior to 13th July 2008

Adult: £247
Student: £190
Cons: £152
8-11: £76

From 14th July 2008 until 8th August 2008

Adult: £273
Student: £210
Cons: £168
8-11: £84

If you make your purchase early this gives you a saving on the Adult ticket of £52 (4 games free)

The Under8‘s Junior Blues card is also available for £10 for all 23 home games

Application forms can be found on the Visitors page and are also available from behind the bar in the clubhouse

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Grays Athletic have released Ben Watson to allow him to join Exeter City in League 2 on a permanent basis, we would like to wish both Ben and Exeter the best of luck for the future.

Also Goalkeeper, Jake Whincup, has been released; Grays Athletic would like to thank Jake for all he has done and wish him well for the future

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Grays Athletic Football Club Chairman and Board of Directors would like to make it known that following a meeting with Thurrock Council the relocation plans to move Grays Athletic Football Club to the Aveley Sports & Social Club will not be taken any further.

Thurrock Council are fully behind Grays Athletic‘s new stadium plans and are currently in discussion with the club regarding this, we are hoping to bring you some exciting news regarding this by the end of the month when a joint statement will be released.

The club asks that you be patient and await the official news, which we believe will be of great interest to all our fans.

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