WITH the new football season only a few weeks away, the Citizen talked to Jack Kirkland, the chairman of Chorley Football Club, to find out what the public can expect from the Magpies over the next campaign.
Jack grew up in Deepdale, Preston, and followed the Lilywhites with great passion. He went to school with the Finney's and was quick to tell me that he was there the day more than 42,000 watched Preston play Arsenal.
"Before the war we were a great side and during the 50s when my friend Tommy Finney was in his prime we averaged gates of 33,000-34,000," said Jack.
So why is this 'Northender' spearheading Chorley's quest for Conference football? At the age of 69 should he not be taking things easy?
The Citizen of course means that with the utmost respect to Jack and to Chorley F.C. but think of the hassle involved being chairman. How many times have idiots tried to burn the ground down? It seems every month the club is the victim of mindless vandalism with the bill running into a few hundred pounds - money a non-league club can ill afford.
Ironically, it was only last week that Victory Park was given its General Safety Certificate. The plan was for a 4,405 capacity but only 3,855 are to be allowed into the ground.
Jack said: "We would have to spend more than £100,000 on bringing the ground up to Conference standards. But that will not be happening as there is no money left."
He added: "Next season is all about consolidation. We only have one player, our goalkeeper, Simon Marsh, who has signed a contract with us, but others will sign. Our boys start pre-season training on July 10 and I have every confidence in Bryan Griffiths and Ken Wright to bring in the right calibre of personnel."
Jack thought Chorley had it right this time last year. He said: "Last season the players were in my opinion good enough for the Conference. Only Witton and Barrow had the players who on paper were as good. But our boys just did not perform.
"Enough is enough. Chorley FC will not be throwing silly money around anymore. We need an average gate of 1,000 to break even."
I somehow got the impression that Jack was not joking when he said the management would only get promotion by working their 'magic' and using their expertise - because Jack will not allow them to attempt to buy Chorley into the Conference again.
Instead he looked ahead with an abundance of enthusiasm to the pre season friendlies against local giants Preston and Bolton and a truly great day for all 'Magpies' - a game against Newcastle, which was part of the David Eatock deal.
The fixtures for the Unibond Premier Division are not due out until July because Division One Champions Radcliffe Borough may not get to play in the Premier if their ground does not meet standards acceptable to the Unibond Premier League.
Victory Park will stage Lancashire Lynx second and third team games next season. In an attempt to try and catch the interest of the public Chorley F.C. will be playing their reserve team home games on Friday nights at Victory Park.
Mr Kirkland said: "People can't say we don't try. We really need to make more money and this could work. When I was young Preston North End used to play their reserve games on Thursday afternoons and regularly got gates of 12,000."
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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