I am still in the hot seat after a long hard slog trying to sort out the club's finances along with Grahame Rowley and Andrew Shaw, the other very important people involved in the rebuilding of your club which was, and still is, in a financial mess.

It would have been very easy to put the club into liquidation but this would have been the easy way out. We didn’t, and you the supporters, still have a club and a team to watch in the Unibond Premier Division. By the way, I take my hat off to you for your loyal support. It's fantastic, and thank you very much.

The last time I wrote a piece for the programme, I hit a few nerves in various people including ex-Directors but I said it as I saw it. Having had 12 months at the club, I would now like to thank some of these ex-Directors and others who over the last year have written off their debts. There are however, others in the background and all I can ask is that they are patient when we have the money we will most certainly service those debts. Or perhaps they could follow suit and help the club further. This would be a great plus if they did.

I think that the supporters of the club deserve a big pat on the back as for the first time in recent history the club has posted a profit a small one admittedly, but a profit nevertheless. We still have a lot of historic debt to clear. The Income Tax and VAT of £75,000 along with other debts still leaves us in the hands of people's good nature but there are some positives out there. We are staying at Moss Lane and therefore we can start to look at obtaining grants to improve the ground. As I’m sure you're aware, it has been neglected of late with money being spent on players' wages instead of the ground. We will now be exploring all possibilities with the Football Foundation watch this space!

Regarding the Manager, Coach and team, I believe that the old Fans' Forum is going mad with calls of "Heathcote out, Steele Out"- but they've forgotten my name and that of the other two Directors here. We put Mr Heathcote and Mr Steele in the front seat, so it goes without saying that we are a team who will stick together through thick and thin. However, it concerns me that these people who are trying to be disruptive do not bother to sign in under their own name.

I am sure that the majority of you realise that we are lucky to be playing footbail at Moss Lane and that this is still in the balance. I think it’s about time that I put you in the picture about what my job is at YOUR club. Note those words. I have very few shares in the club (less than 10) plus I dont get paid. How many people run a business without pay? The same goes for my fellow Directors. A lot of time is spent behind the scenes that few people appreciate, made all the more difficult by being such a small Board.

However, our prime objectives and aims are:-

1. Sort out the VAT and Inland Revenue situation
2. To obtain membership of the Conference North at the season end
3. No extra money in the budget for players until the debts have been serviced
4. Apply for grants in order to improve the facilities at the ground

By the way, it was my idea to put up the admission prices by 50p this season because I felt it was a way in which the supporters could help the club survive. I was sure that you wouldn't mind and would want to help.

On the playing front I was pleased to see Rod and Ian sign new contracts this season. These two could play for any other club in the Unibond and many Conference teams but they chose to stay here because they like the gaffer, the Chairman and they also realise the position that the club is in. They could have commanded increased wages elsewhere but along with all the other players they have settled for an average pay to be part of a great football club! The Manager, like last season, has a set wages' budget to work to and looking back through the records it compares favourably with the budget of 1994/95!!!! It goes to show how things went wrong from then on. A big thank you to all the players for helping the club.

I’m sure that with careful management, we can progress and once the debts are cleared, more money can be made available for players.

On to Dave Gardner (left). To the people who doubt the arrival of Dave to this club put yourself in his shoes for one minute. Would you turn up and play football in the cold, rain etc when you could be away elsewhere? Dave is a very successful businessman who has a very successful wife and doesn’t need to be "tied down" each weekend by football commitments. The comments on the Forum saying he is only "playing because he is going to put money into the club" are an insult to Dave’s talents and also to Graham who has put the team together, based on the players abilities.

Dave is an asset, player-wise, to our team and is a very skilful player. He has also asked the club not to pay him a wage but to put the money back into the pot for the other players. How then can people say that he doesn’t care? I’m sure that anyone else with as much talent as Dave has would not play for free, So, I think a big thank you is due to Dave for all his time and effort and I hope in my heart, as a genuine Alty fan, that you don't throw the towel in. If I was honest, if I was in your shoes, I probably would have done. There is no way that I would play for a team whose supporters abused me personally. Apologies are due. We all have our bad games and no one knows that more than the players themselves.

Come on everybody, ALL the team needs your support, through the ups and especially the downs. Get behind not only the team but also the coach and manager who are doing a fantastic job under great restraints. We cannot afford to lose any more players. As my wife often says, "If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all". Yes, we are all entitled to our opinions but I do not know of one person who hasn’t been upset by unnecessary hurtful remarks.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I say it as it is and I make no apologies for this, I would never dream of writing something on the Forum or in this programme without signing my name to it. Please have respect for the players and the management.

Till my next epilogue, enjoy the game.

Geoff Goodwin (Chairman)

I have to start by apologising to everyone who went to Wakefield & Emley on Saturday to witness what has been described as a gutless, disorganised shambles words that hurt me personally very much but words that aptly describe how we performed.

There can be no excuses, it’s all about attitude. How can the same players perform so well in one game and then so appallingly in another? The only answer can be attitude.

I know what we set out to play, we all worked very hard on Thursday evening to organise ourselves so that everyone knew their jobs within the framework of the team and yet very little or none of it happened.

The players have been left in no doubt what will happen if we ever have to endure a lack of desire to play. I take it as a personal insult that I haven’t been able to motivate them into the right frame of mind and have questioned myself very harshly.

This last 48 hours the support which I have been given from everyone around the football club convinces me that the club is on the right lines with a unity to work hard together to eradicate the problems. It is down on the pitch itself where the players must show their conviction. That is where the club itself gets its enjoyment.

The fans, the staff, the Board we all get a buzz from what the players do on the pitch. Don’t let us down again!

Graham Heathcote