We today welcome a joint Declaration from the UK football family signifying its support for building a mentally healthy environment at every level of the game, as a lasting legacy of the Heads Up campaign.

The Mentally Healthy Football Declaration will see all of UK football recognising that mental health is as important as physical health, and pioneering a ‘team approach’ on this important issue. The UK football family will build on the important work that clubs and football organisations are already doing, working together to roll out these efforts across the football system, share best practice, and support the development of ‘mentally healthy clubs’ at every level of the game.

The landmark Declaration has been signed by senior figures from across the football system, including the FA, the Premier League, the English Football League (EFL), Scottish FA, Wales FA, Irish FA, League Managers Association (LMA), Professional Footballers Association (PFA), Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) and League Football Education (LFE).

Following an unprecedented season for football, mental health issues are more relevant than ever.   Through the Declaration, football has committed to working together to embed an environment across all of UK football:

• Where players and staff are encouraged to look after their mental health just as they look after their physical health;
• where they feel able to spot the signs that they, a team-mate or colleague might be struggling and know where to access support;
• and where speaking out about mental health is seen as a sign of strength rather than weakness.

The Declaration will see us form a UK-wide mental health implementation group next season, working towards a collective ‘game plan’ for the first time to ensure the mental health of players, staff, managers, coaches and officials is prioritised across the game.

The Declaration has also been welcomed by Heads Up’s charity partners Mind, CALM and Sporting Chance, who will work with us all next season to take the Declaration forward.

You can find out more about the Heads Up campaign by visiting www.headstogether.org.uk/heads-up

Hi everyone,

It’s been a few weeks since you all had an update on what’s been happening at the club, so I thought I’d give you a flavour of some of the current issues. 

Firstly, many thanks to all of you who so kindly donated to our recent floodlight improvement and other groundworks appeal.  The final tally was £11,830 raised and, taking additional account of one or two very welcome donations from other sources, the Board will now be focusing on how to invest the money as efficiently and as effectively as possible, and we will outline our priority spending decisions (beyond the pre-planned floodlights work) in due course. In respect of the floodlights we are working with suppliers on a couple of options at the moment, the favourite currently being an additional light on each pylon and an upgrade of existing bulbs and reflectors. I appreciate times are hard for lots of us currently so to have over 200 individuals donate is absolutely fantastic and shows the extend of our wonderful support. 

Many of you will have seen the government’s recent announcement that a number of pilot sporting events take place over the next few weeks with a view to the reopening of sports venues, with social distancing measures in place, from October 2020.  The full statement can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pilots-announced-for-return-of-spectators-to-elite-sports-events . The club has been undertaking an assessment of the risks associated with a return to football at the QEII Stadium, taking account of the FA’s guidelines on the return of outdoor competitive grassroots football (see http://www.thefa.com/news/2020/jul/17/grassroots-guidance-for-competitive-football-restart-in-england-170720 ).

Although the guidance suggests supporters will not be back in stadiums until October, the Isthmian League has a proposed provisional start date of 19^th September so we must plan for that date until we hear otherwise. Dialogue will also continue with the Isthmian League on the next steps, the league have been very clear that we will not commence until supporters are allowed back in to stadiums and I’m sure fixtures will not be announced until we have this clarity. We will continue to update you as and when we have more details.

In connection with a potential restart, the results of a survey that the Football Supporters Association and Non-League Paper had undertaken were announced at the weekend (see https://www.thenonleaguefootballpaper.com/features/vanarama/31126/the-non-league-paper-is-out-as-thousands-have-their-say-on-restart/ ), and 77.2% of those surveyed said that they would return from the first game back with a hypothetical October start date. A further 18% expect to be back within three months, while 4.8% said it would take more than six months for them to return, or that they possibly wouldn’t return at all.  All of this is encouraging news, but there is, of course, a long way to go and a lot of work behind the scenes to be completed before the club can make any sort of definitive announcements.

The first team squad are due to begin training on Saturday and a number of key precautions are in place to ensure government guidelines are adhered to, including appropriate social distancing and track and trace protocols. As ever at this time of year, there will be some squad comings and goings – the departure of striker Ken Charles has already been announced and Glenn Wilson will also be leaving to play closer to his home in Sussex.

Having spoken to Andy, I am confident there will be plenty of good news to report at the right time as the 2020-21 squad takes shape, and he will be aiming to bring you all up to date within the next week or two. We will, like many clubs, be operating with a smaller budget but I’m sure we can deliver a side to challenge at the right end of the table again.  It is planned to arrange a number of friendly matches behind closed doors in advance of any competitive resumption and match secretary John Dolan is working with the management team to secure a set of fixtures that set us up in the right way to start the season in the best possible shape.

You may have seen that we have decided not to field an Under 23 side during 2020-21. This decision was not taken lightly, and it followed careful consideration around important issues such as pitch use, associated finances and the strong likelihood of a much shorter season with fewer midweek date options available. I can reassure you all that the club is still very much committed to the development of young talent, and this has been demonstrated by our Academy being established this summer. Once our scholars move into their second year in 2021-22, we will review our set-up again in order to best provide optimum pathways into senior football.

In other news the Board (who have been meeting fortnightly during the lockdown), having worked within the constraints of a mothball budget for a number of months, have now approved a provisional budget for 2020-21, have approved a new-look website (through which you may be reading this message!) and are looking at ways in which it can help foster an improved environment to encourage greater diversity and inclusion around the club.

Finally, there is scheduled to be a drive-in cinema event on Enfield Playing Fields next month (the club are working with the council on this) – see https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Enfield/Enfield-Playing-Fields/Drive-in-Cinema/13802936/ for details; you can order non-medical Town facemasks via https://www.theamyverse.com/etfc ; and you can help Enfield Town FC Community Sports Development Ltd in resuming its work in encouraging sporting activity for all in the borough once it is safe to do by signing up to Amazon Smile.  The same products, prices and services as the Amazon you know, with 0.5% of the net costs of your order donated by Amazon to help with charitable work. Details of how to set up an account or amend your current account are here: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/chpf/about?ie=UTF8&ref_=smi_ge_sr_learn_raas , and you can select Enfield Town FC Community Sports Development Ltd from a drop-down menu.

As soon as anything firm is agreed around what we all want to see – Town teams back out on the pitch – there will be announcements for members and other supporters about logistics. Following the success of the Zoom link with members in May, a date for a follow up event will be announced at an optimum time.

Thanks once again for your undiminished support and understanding and, as ever, a particular thank you to those of you who are continuing to perform background tasks to keep the club going in our current situation until such time as matches and other events can begin.

Although the club’s floodlight appeal timeframe has passed, supporters can still donate to help the club through these exceptionally difficult times, preferably via a BACS transfer to: ETFC Ltd, Barclays Bank, Sort Code 20-45-45, Account Number 43222942. Please mark any transfer with your name and the word ‘donation’. Memberships and season tickets are of course already available – please see: https://etfc.london/calling-all-town-supporters

Take care everyone, and I’ll be in touch as soon as there are any further updates.

Paul Reed

Chairman

* since the Chairman’s update, the constitution of the Isthmian League Premier Division has been announced as unchanged for 2020-21. For full national league system alloactions see https://www.isthmian.co.uk/national-league-system-allocations-2020-21-62746

Adventure Cinema were unable to have their outside cinema event in the stadium scheduled for May. But, thanks to Enfield Council, arrangements have been made for a drive in cinema on Enfield playing fields.

Please support this event and again we thank LBE for making it possible.

Tickets are now on sale at

https://www.adventuredrivein.co.uk/locations/enfield-tba

subject to final arrangements on the use of the playing fields.

After careful consideration, the club has decided not to run an Under 23 side next season.

The decision has been made with the uncertainty of the timing of the forthcoming campaign in mind, and has been based primarily around issues such as pitch use, associated finances and the strong likelihood of a shorter season with fewer midweek options available.

Chairman Paul Reed said “this was a tough decision to make and, on behalf of the club I’d like to thank manager Malik Yansaneh, his staff and all the squad for their efforts over the last couple of years. Malik reinvigorated the team when he took over, and very narrowly missed out on the league title in his first season. We would like to wish Malik all the very best for the future; he is a very talented young coach”.

“The club is still very much committed to the development of young talent, and this has been demonstrated by our Academy being established this summer. Once our scholars move in to their second year in 2021-22 we will review our set-up once again in order to best provide pathways into senior football”.

First team manager Andy Leese said “the decision is no reflection whatsoever on Malik and the job he and his management team have done. Running a reserve team is a tough job and, as a young coach, Malik has managed it well. I would also like to thank him and his team for their efforts in helping develop players within the club and I am sure our paths will cross again”.

The club understands that young striker Ken Charles has this afternoon joined another Isthmian League Premier Division club. Ken made a total of 40 appearances for the Town, scoring 13 goals. We would like to wish him all the best for the future.

As usual at this time of year, there will invariably be some player comings and goings to report over the summer months. As mentioned in previous news postings, there will be a general update about on and off field matters at the QEII in the next week or so.

Town’s recent floodlight and other ground works appeal has exceeded its £10,000 target with a couple of weeks of the Crowdfunder period to go. Many, many thanks to everyone who has contributed so generously in these very difficult times.  The appeal will remain open and supporters can still donate via https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/shine-a-light-for-enfield-town-fc as the club looks to take the opportunity to maximise income and prioritise its spending carefully before football can resume again.

Chairman Paul Reed said “My board colleagues and I have been completely blown away by the achievement of this vital floodlight and other ground works income target. What an amazing set of supporters Enfield Town have been lucky enough to have had over the years – and this latest example of togetherness has again demonstrated that our club is heading in the right direction, with incredibly generous donations from overseas as well as in the UK. Thank you all so much. Once the appeal deadline of 21st July has passed we’ll be in touch again to outline how the income raised will be spent specifically, along with a more general club update around that time”.

WANT TO EXCEL IN FOOTBALL?

Outside of Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, Enfield Town FC is North London’s Premier Club, based at Queen Elizabeth II Stadium in Donkey Lane.

This season the club are running upto 4 U18s teams in various leagues and competitions.

Our Elite U18 Academy team will compete in the Midweek National Colleges League designed around the players College courses and education.We will also be running 3 teams which will compete in, the Southern Counties Floodlit Midweek, Eastern Junior Alliance and Watford Friendly Leagues.

A collective team from all our teams will represent Enfield Town FC in the prestigious FA Youth and Midweek County Cup Competitions.

The very best of our U18s will also benefit with First Team training sessions and given an opportunity to a  pathway to Senior Football.

All enquiries should be made via the clubs trial application form below 

APPLICATION FORM