Burgess Hill Town FC annual awards night, which took place on Saturday 27th April 2024.
00:00 Intro
01:38 U18s Awards – Gary Mansell
11:00 Volunteer Awards – David Corney
20:40 The John Buck Award – John Buck
22:15 Chairman’s Award – Vince Alfieri
25:05 1st Team Awards
34:13 Final Words from the Chairman
good evening everyone and welcome to burges Hill Town football clubs is that Taylor Seymour on the Bell give it a ring Taylor thank you okay thank you good evening to bille toown FC Awards 2023 24 yes okay right I have the pleasure of introducing the MC for the evening and I in fact I don’t need to give him any introduction other than to say ladies and gentlemen John [Applause] Buck joh well I’m not sure whether I got to sing a song or what am I going to do but I’m uh I’m the MC for theight hang on is it working I’m the MC the night and if you can’t hear me I’ll speak louder and louder until you can hear me just get crowd control a crowd control Tina is now organizing the chairs yeah and if if you if Tina says you sit you sit we’ll get better right we’re going to start with the under 18 presentation tonight and we’re going to call up Gary ay and Ros we’re going to make a few say a few words and if they go along longer than 10:00 please stop them but we’re going to call up the three and they make the under 18 Awards come on Gary ad and Ross along um really appreciate it and I know we’re here for the senior Awards as well but these guys are such an important component of this football club um and and the senior guys will acknowledge what they’ve delivered for the squad this year and what they’ve delivered for the club so massive congratulations to this [Applause] woohoo um as ever we’ll start with the thank yous and I will miss people so apologies I will catch you at the bar at some point if I do miss you um so we start with the obvious one my my longsuffering wife that one out first just in case so uh um but she suffers um with my moods so if you’re if you’re great she’s happy if you’re rubbish she knows to stay out the way hide in a room at the back and it’s the same for you boys as well this speech will go on again later um but no brilliant she’s brilliant she’s very tolerant um but really holds everything together and she’s the one that kind of lifts me up when when when I’m down with the results or things are not going away so I really do show her appreciation [Applause] please um then then the next thank you is to this guy beside me um Ross unfortunately is not here he’s son himself in Dubai or somewhere like that you know my b or wherever he goes this time of year um but ad is still here in the rain by my side and it and this guy has been really important to us this year um particularly as we transitioned into first team football um and we kind of left these guys in alert ad was the one that picked up the slack um and I don’t think people realize how much work goes into not just the first team but running the under 18s under 18 under 18 County without this guy none of it happens okay none of it happens then there is the thank you to the guys around the club um again they offer us the platform to develop these boys they offer us the ground FS go and play the kit um absolutely everything the volunteers we do the changing rooms apply the match balls make sure the corner are out again these boys would get a pitch to play on you know a brilliant pitch to play on without the volunteers and and the brilliant people at this football club none of that happens so I want news boys to show your appreciation to these guys for what they do and then of course there are youed guys um because we are very blessed at this football club not just to have a pool of talent that Rivals any football club in Sussex um but what a brilliant brilliant group of lads you really really are um that are going on to be men um at a brilliant level of football and you will kick on um and some of you will kick on Beyond this football club and we’re very very proud to acknowledge that and being a part of that Journey so give these guys so we’ll get on with the awards now this is the bit that everyone’s here for um so we we’ve we’ve got two teams at under 18s we’ve got a team that plays in the um Southern combination County league on a Sunday um and I’m very proud to say that these guys last week sealed the league title uh this nice Cut behind 80 here um so we’re going to start with the the county 18s Awards um and the first award is um outstanding contribution and when we look at this we look at moments in the season where uh the are game changers or someone that’s contributed something that that is so important that it’s a bit of a turning point or it’s picking the lads up um and this lad went through a bit of a rough spell right at the start of the year but turned himself around turned us around and scored some goals at really important moment moments that me we went on to win the league he’s not unfortunately he’s not here so we’re going to ask we’re going to ask someone to come up and collect it on his behalf but the winner of this award is Billy s so Charlie can you come and grab it the next one is the most important award for me um this is the biggest achievement for any player which is the player’s player if your peers vote for you I think I don’t think there’s a bigger honor in football um and this year’s players player unfortunately he’s not here is Billy s uh K where’s k um this is the management player of the year um I say this every year it’s always a tough decision but this year honestly was the hardest decision there was so many good players this year everyone contributed so much it was a really really tough decision um but we felt this lad had moments um we felt he gave us everything in all the games that he played he’s had to work he’s had to challenge um but we’re really proud of everything he’s done this year and this year’s management player of the year for our County side is Austin poter uh onto our ish and under 18’s team um what a year these boys have had they’re going to finish third in the ish League um but for me the only reason they’re going to finish third is because of the way we picked him apart halfway through the season for me this is the best team in the ishan league but in December I stepped out of the ishan 18s to take on the first team job and I took five of our players with us and then we left these guys kind of in the middle of rearranging themselves ad was chucked in these guys were chucked in um and it derailed us a little bit but these guys never lost faith cracked on and had a brilliant year they’ll finished third in the ishan league got to the first round of the fa youth cup which is a hell of a achievement and for 60 minutes you wouldn’t have known who was the efl club and who was bur Hilltown um they’ve won the county League we’ve had 11 of these boys make debuts for our first team this year not throwaway debuts either competitive debuts 11 of these boys um the first award is um the outstanding contribution award and and we’ve gone for a lad that’s been really patient with us this this lad joined us at 15 um and in the first year he was with us he didn’t play he he just got around training he come down sit on the bench just get around it the second year became very very consistent got himself minutes got in the team regularly and then in the third year he became our club Captain um and that’s the biggest honor we can say to him and we wanted to give him this award to acknowledge what he’s actually given to this team throughout and that is Taylor Edwards okay as I said earlier um this is a big award to win the players’s player um and it it’s a tough one for these guys to vote and the voting was really close um but I’m kind of pleased this this lad won it because I think his um contribution his achievements this year need to be acknowledged um and that player is Alex Brewer he averages 2.2 goals a game which isn’t bad um and the final award for the under 18s is the ishan management uh team’s Player of the Year and again really difficult um and we kind of looked at well who’s been in the team regular who’s been consistent who’s delivered um really hard so many to choose from so many players have made first team debut has done really well and it’s been really difficult for us but we just felt this lad has just kept on he’s been steady he’s been consistent all the way through offers a bit of flare really good player bright bright future ahead of him and our management teams player of the year is f Maran can you hear me okay it’s very strange being at this side of itell sounds very odd sounds very odd um first I’d like to thank everybody um the the fans uh the volunteers and the players for the absolutely incredible warm welcome that you’ve given both Vicki and I to the club um we are new to burges Hilltown football club uh we’re new to burges Hill and we’re certainly new to non- League football and um it’s been an interesting and um exciting at times um uh learning curve um and uh we’ve been involved in pretty much almost all of the season um and uh it’s been certainly an emotional roller coaster um but I would like to thank Tina and and uh Vince I’ve just remembered your name then excent excellent um and um thank them for uh for talking Vicki and I into getting involved in this club um it was uh it was a pretty good Vince um convincing exercise that he did on us um but it’s been great we’ve really appreciated it um it’s uh it’s obviously a challenge to be involved in a club like this it’s surprisingly complicated business um you know financially and all the moving parts of a of a small football club like this it’s really complicated and I think vintino have done absolutely fantastic job at so yeah so and plus the fact that we decided you know to to have a slight strength change in manager strategy halfway through the season that was also bit of fun as well it um so only one this season though um so I’m very very lucky to have I think probably the best um part of the evening where uh what I’ve realized when I I’m a football fan not footballer football fan so I always considered the most important part of any football club is the fans I’ve actually realized I was wrong the most important part of of any football club is volunteers um and the volunteers at this club are ABS I had no appreciation of how incredible the volunteers are um this club especially and and what keeps non Le going um so when I was asked to to give the awards I was thinking well Christ okay we can’t give it to everybody so I’m immediately going to get lambasted by somebody saying well hold on a sec where’s my award I’ve done I’ve done more than them so it’s a bit of a challenge so um so they officially they are the outstanding contribution Awards um but I got I’ve got five names that I need to give Awards to but there were three people that um I wanted to give us a a special shout out to because they’re not outstanding contribution even though they have given outstanding contribution so I just wanted to give a shout out um so um so John Buck obviously does a fantastic job but however he’s made to look good by the ladies that do all the jobs for him um so one of those ladies I’d like to take shout out to um is Linda um basically looks after the the um director room um she looks after the the Monday club guys and girls that help on that and again an unsung volunteer that’s uh that’s fantastic so there’s some flowers for Linda there we are the next person I want to give a shout out for so normally when we sign people from Haywood’s teath right we don’t particularly like them you know I had no problems with H’s teath until I got involved in this club it seemed quite a nice town but I hate it um so um but one good signing that we made from hay te this season um is our our kit lady so I want to big big shout out to Natalie where are you Nat um she’s over there I’ve got some some flowers for you Natalie can you make it over here [Applause] right so first outstanding contribution award um again unsung heroes people that without them this club just wouldn’t operate um so this guy he drags kit to and from games um turns up home and away in order to do this um he is you know helps stewarding on the on the games um he’s around he actually counts for 7.3% of all of our bar taking um which is fantastic and and you can pretty much guarantee on Match days he is the last person to leave the bar [Applause] Dan right um so I’m going back to the flowers again um so I was told not to leave her to last and now I told to bring her for hey it’s chaos up here um so I we wanted to give a massive thank you to um to our bar manager um manageres um who have to say um when the toilets blocked the last week um and we she had her hands down the toilet these flowers are not enough um to thank her but I’d like to say Nicola thank you so much for everything you your passion and everything for this is amazing so again volunteers people are prepared to turn up each week and do stuff for nothing for the club um and in this next volunteer it’s we’ve got a professional doing basically the job for our club for free and it’s I’m I’m said I’m absolutely gobsmacked the amount of time this gentleman puts into the club and you players um you know really should appreciate the efforts that Richard mimon uh puts in to being the groundsman at the club um so Richard apart from the fact that every time we mention the word 3G you get really irritated um but thank you so much you’ve been an absolute Superstar really appreciate it so um the next award um goes to somebody who’s um we’ve upgraded her this year um she’s gone from a table to the shed um so and I’m I’m a huge passion uh for for crap Club merchandise um I absolutely love it everywhere I go to another club I got to check out the shop um and we’ve got two incredibly passionate people that are turn up each week and they man that shop and um unfortunately for Andy the W’s not going to him um but uh but uh yeah she’s been fantastic for the club for many many years um she has now introduced Bingo nights um on the last Sunday of the month or first Sunday of the month first suay first Sunday of the month first first one was last last week and it was incredibly popular so that was great so um I’d like to give this award to the scourge of Matt Longhurst um Debbie Ferris Debbie where are [Music] you so the next award goes to to the person responsible for in my opinion and I would say that that lots of people have the same opinion as me I think we have the best football program in the league by some distance um I think it’s absolutely quality and I can’t tell you the disappoint when I turn up to a club and it’s online I mean it’s just well that means nobody’s going to read it um so um now the only disappointment with that is that Dave decides to live 300 miles away in Cornwall um so I’m kind of hoping that maybe that they ban non- Cornish people living in Cornwall and you have to come back and move back to Burgess Hill because we miss you um but hey you’ve been fantastic for the club the everything you’ve done um in terms of the publicity and the advertising and obviously the program is very very much appreciated Dave Bradbery and the final award that you’ll all be pleased it’s only the final award um so this gentleman is our uh is in on Match days it may look like chaos but it’s actually Controlled Chaos and it’s controlled by our match day operations uh manager um who is more than that he turns up Sundays he’s sorting stuff out in the the pitches and all sorts of things but um this gentleman is fantastic he’s a he is a gentleman and uh always very welcoming to everybody he meets uh [Music] Colin right now we come to an award Now by What’s called the John Buck award whoever John Buck is but I was asked years ago to give an award to who I thought was giving an outstanding contribution to the season or to the club for the season it’s been given to manager Ian chap had it Ashley Carr had it and Tim Spencer had it even Chris not even but Chris photographer had it so it goes through a variety of people I I I give this award too now this year uh we we we’re so lucky we got a band of volunteers which I did start with a fell called um what was his name uh Freddy wetheral Freddy weao and me and we we started then was a Ray Hurst we started coming down on Mondays or after the after games and Tiding up and that uh that I was sort of running that but now I’m getting too old to do that and so yeah so we we we have got this lovely lot of volunteers that get behind the scenes and do all this work and this this year I’m going to give the award I’d like to give the award to somebody who’s to play for birges Hill I could tell you about his first goal he scored for bir like a diving head up between somebody’s legs but but this this fell has taken the horns he’s he’s really made it much more professional than what I used to do it and a really really super super guy Tommy [Applause] Manor okay so this is a tradition at Bill Town Football Club the award um was first awarded in 2004 we have had many winners since then uh we’ve only had two women ever win this award this is the award that the chairman gives that recognizes special effort achievement with volunteers um so it is a tradition Jack Lake was someone that worked for the Rotary Club if I’ve understood it correctly and this was quite a big deal back in the day because this award was actually given at The Rotary Club as well uh but the Rotary Club don’t turn up here anymore probably because they ow us a bit of money for a sponsorship board but that’s another story for another day um anyway um I’ve had a good think who I should give the award to last year’s winnner here Mr John Goss by the way uh that’s the sort of caliber that’s the sort of caliber of winner that we’re talking about I’ve had a I’ve had a long think and um the person that I’m going to give it to is somebody that um has helped me massively in uh the job that that I do both with the Juniors and the seniors um has definitely kept me grounded or certainly tried to keep me grounded at times when I’m uh running away with ideas and uh grabbing opportunities that is going to um take a lot of effort to to land um and it’s a voice that has always been there for me that I think if I didn’t have that voice I don’t think I would have been able to to to do as much as we’ve done um and I’m forever grateful um and just to give you an idea of the kind of person she is uh she does so much work in her own time which she hasn’t even got uh and you know in the summer I think it was she said she’s got to take a break and she stepped away um but she didn’t actually step away she kept doing all the work and she’s still doing all the work now uh it just shows you what commitment she has to this football club uh to me and Tina especially and we honestly couldn’t do this without her that’s that’s the biggest compliment I can give her and uh we love her and uh I want to give the award to the third woman to ever win this award Amanda lipit what on Amanda [Music] um so where to start with this uh not quite sure um this kind of sums up where we began as a group um season started with a different manager different group um we kind of Vince was on his Button as usual in in December um and we found ourselves landed in a job um so that’s where I think I’ll start is to thank Vince Tina uh David and Vicki for the faith that they put in me um never managed at senior level let alone step four so for these guys to recognize something in me and see something in me and Trust what we we go on to do and what we believe we can do and what we can achieve uh um is massive for me personally so from for me personally to you guys a big thank you um then there’s the management team around me um because these guys without these guys it would be very difficult for us to progress and keep doing what we’re doing um Lewis obviously Club Legend I very all that um ad Ross ber um bobsy Jay um Nat all all the guys John Goss who’s been brilliant for us all Ryan box everyone Richard sorting The Pitch Out uh I’m just looking around the room um Elise can’t miss Elise looking after the players welfare and and their injuries um absolutely amazing and and so much goes into running a senior football club and running the first team that without these guys it’s just not possible um so I please show your appreciation to these guys get me through it um and then there’s the players what what I find is really important is when we took on the rooll we went on a um a brilliant run and that was easy management was easy it it it really was I thought well this is easy we just get the ball down we play We Kick It in the goal nothing to it don’t know what all the fuss is about but you learn and you appreciate the group when you’re not winning um we went on we went on a good run and then we were on a really bad run and that’s when you learn learn about people and one of the things that gets you through them kind of times and we struggled we did struggle with it because we we’re used to winning and with these under 18s guys we used to winning and what gets you through it is you got to have a good dressing room um and I’m really blessed and although results haven’t always G our way we haven’t always got our deserve one thing I do feel very blessed about is that we’ve got a good dressing room and that’s credit to these guys and a big thank you to them and I know all the management teams share this these guys what a dressing room when we look at the season as a whole um I don’t see it as a disappointing season I see it as a progressive season from where we were where we’re going what we’re doing I see it as a really Progressive season we’ve built some really important infrastructure around behind the club these guys what they’re doing off the pitch is really important what we’re trying to put in place to to offer a platform for next year what these guys have have trusted us to do and what they’re trying to um do and and the trus in the process and the way we want to play um they’ve been really Brave to do what we do um and that takes a lot of Courage but I will dedicate that second goal to John buck and maybe maybe that’ll be next year okay um but it does take a lot of Bravery to do the way we want to do we wanted to come in and we wanted to change the style of football we wanted to play a brand of football that maybe doesn’t suit this level of football but these guys went with it they went with it they didn’t Sherk it they didn’t say it doesn’t work when things went against us they kept doing it kept plugging away kept doing it and I think today we got what we deserved which we haven’t always got so brilliant to you spys thank you for that so we’re get on the awards now um the first one is the President’s Cup supporters award um really important award for me like players player I think it’s really important that everyone around it that’s not too close to it gets to gets to have their vote um and this year they’ve gone for a player that that has been in the team consistently been brilliant had some brilliant moments scored some really good goals two really good goals um fully deserves this award in my opinion and that is Kieran [Applause] R okay I I did offer this one to Louis Taylor but he’s uh bold nous but then he look [Laughter] good there we go that was lovely Closer Closer um the next one the next one is um young Player of the Year award um and as I said earlier we’ve had 11 under 18s make their debut some players have played a few minutes some have made appearances here and there but one lad has just come into this team and he’s smashed it out the park um he’s been absolutely unbelievable and he this lad will be watched and he will go on on to massive massive things and he needs no introduction it’s Harry Lawson um next one is the management teams player of the year um and and we kind of had quite a big debate about this one because there was two or three players that that we felt added lots of value um to the club this year but we decided to go with a player that you don’t always appreciate what this what this guy does um until he’s not doing what he’s doing and when this guy went out of the team we we recognize that well we missed him massively missed him shut up it’s not Taylor seore Just so you know but we do miss you Taylor our management team player of the year when things weren’t going right this lad just kept on kept on kept on um our winner is Dan Perry um the final award is for me I said it earlier I’ll say it again this is the biggest award you can win at any football club if your teammates your peers are voting you as player of the Season there’s no bigger honor um that’s that’s the biggest respect you can get any football club in my opinion um and this guy um epitomizes what what we’re about what we’re looking for work rate is off the chart um never stops demands not you oh sorry demands qu um but sets the example winner of this year’s players player fully deserved Kieran Ro I’ve got to say a special thank you to the people who put this on tonight we used to have annual dinner in a stuffy hotel in Brighton all wearing suits and things like that but this atmosphere feel like this tonight is really good good and and Vince and Tina and Dave and Vicki they really put on a good good night tonight so a special give a special Round of Applause to those four right okay thank you right um so we we’re going to end with the the Chairman’s speech okay so I’ve got to say a few words very quickly uh but before I do there’s a couple of um a couple of thank yous that I want to give as well um so the first one is to a guy that has I can’t put into words how much he’s helped the football club financially as well as the fact that he attends every single game Home and Away uh he’s burges Hill through and through he’s probably at the bar as we speak he’s probably not in here but I I want to go on record in thanking Tom welfare so big round of applause for Tom is he actually in it well massive thank you to Tom um he is an absolute Legend thank you uh couple of other quick ones as well um we had a lot of help from a lot of people so Ryan box the stuff he’s been [Applause] doing Chris the photographer Steve who does all our under 18 secretary work massive massive thank you to Steve John Rumble our uh announcer that no one can hear cuz he never turns the volume up but take it from me he’s bloody good uh I just wish you could hear what he says uh John Rumble um now the vice chairman Mr John Goss unbelievable unbelievable we have got one last award as well um so someone at the football club has ticked over 20 years of volunteering here um it’s our club secretary Tim it’s unbelievable how much he does for us how much he keeps me in check and challenges me as well um we couldn’t do it without him and we couldn’t let this moment pass without acknowledging the fact that he’s done this for 20 years so Tim come up and get a round of applause my final comments are look I put all the reviews in the in the program notes about the progress we made this season on and off the pitch it’s all there for you but what I I just want to say this this football club is going places it really is the ambition the potential it has the stuff that we’re looking to build this club is definitely going on the up we’ve got so many exciting plans here and you know what it’s exactly what this town what you supporters deserve so we are totally determined and we’re very capable in getting something going here that is going to be unbelievable so watch this space and do you know what that’s all I want to say to you all is just watch this space okay have a great evening you can all go now [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] many I don’t know on
