All the best to midfielder Manny Maja who has decided to move on up the League pyramid. Our Young Player of the Year for 21-22, he made 35 appearances for the Town, and was Man of the Match 3 times – we wish him well for a very bright future!

I hope you are all enjoying the summer and are slowly getting over the disappointment of our play-off defeat?!

The board and management team are fully focussed on the new season ahead and are working hard to provide the best budget and playing squad for the new campaign. The management staff of Andy, Mario, Ian, Jake & John are all committed to another year and are determined to build on the improvement that we saw last season.

On the playing front, as a club we don’t operate with too many contracts so we have to wait until league registration forms are issued before “signing” and announcing players.  I appreciate that there is always a thirst for information at this time of year, but please be patient with us. Our trial matches start this weekend and pre-season training commences at the end of next week, it’s at this point that you will start to see announcements of players re-signing or joining the club. 

All of last season’s squad were invited to return for pre-season, but as happens every year, some players decide that their futures belong elsewhere. As such, we have already seen two players announce moves to other clubs – Jerry Gyebi has decided to try his luck higher up the pyramid and Harold Joseph has accepted an offer from Cray Wanderers. Both players have been a credit to the club and we wish them well with their new endeavours.

We expect that another two or three of last season’s squad may also move on, however we have a number of exciting new additions who we are talking to and hope to be able to talk more about these in the coming weeks. 

The pre-season schedule has been published and gives us a good mix of games to prepare for the 2022/3 term – We expect the league fixture to be announced towards the middle of next month.

Season tickets and friendly match tickets are now available to purchase online –  https://enfieldtownfc.ktckts.com/ . The Go To Town monthly scheme will continue and we will be in touch with packages in the coming week. All ticket and package prices have been frozen for 2022/3 and we look forward to seeing you all back at the QES very soon.

Up The Town!

Paul Reed 

Huge congratulations to ETFC life president Roger Reed, father of Town chairman Paul Reed, writes Andrew Warshaw.

Roger has just been made a Life Member of the Isthmian League, an incredibly rare accolade awarded at last Saturday’s AGM in Brighton when Roger stepped down as a board member after acquiring almost legendary status.

The announcement, in front of scores of Isthmian League clubs who gave Roger (pictured with Isthmian League chairman Nick Robinson) a rousing ovation, means he is one of only two life members currently living.

In the entire history of the league, founded in 1905, only small group of officials have ever been made Life Members – including none other than the late chairman of the Football Association and ex-Fifa president Sir Stanley Rous.

“I had no idea about the award,” said Roger who, at 75, has decided to call time on his invaluable work on the Isthmian League board where he was primarily responsible for maintaining standards through ground grading.

“I thought they would do something for me but not that. I was bowled over by it. To be honest, it’s still sinking in. I’m immensely proud.”

“I never dreamed for 10 seconds that I’d end up a Life Member of the League. I just did what I did because I had the knowledge and the time.”

“One of the things I enjoyed most was giving advice to clubs on how to improve their facilities in the most cost-effective way.”

Now retired, will he miss it? “Yes and no,” says Roger. “I must have visited literally hundreds of clubs. I decided to retire because of my age. I don’t quite have the energy any more to drive all those long distances. But I’ll miss being on the inside track, if you like. However, now I can relax and do other things. And of course I’ll still be coming to watch The Town as often as I can.”

We are delighted to confirm that our near-neighbours Tottenham Hotspur, whose training ground is a stone’s throw from the QEII, have again kindly agreed to provide invaluable opposition as part of our early pre-season preparations.

Tottenham’s Development Squad, who will this season revert to competing as Under-21s, will visit us on Tuesday, July 12, at 7pm.

The fixture is bound to generate enormous interest and tickets can be purchased in advance on the following link:

https://enfieldtownfc.ktckts.com/event/ent2223120722/enfield-town-v-tottenham-hotspur-u21s

We are pleased to confirm six pre-season matches ahead of the 2022-23 season. We look forward to welcoming St. Albans City and Spurs’ Under-21s to Donkey Lane, as well as visiting some near-neighbours during July:

Saturday 9^th July [15:00] – Cockfosters (A) – Chalk Lane

Tuesday 12^th July [19:00] – Tottenham Hotspur U21s (H) – QEII Stadium

Tuesday 19^th July [19:45] – St. Albans City (H) – QEII Stadium

Saturday 23^rd July [from 12:00] – Cheshunt/Haringey Borough (A) – Theobalds Lane

Saturday 26^th July [19:45] – Ware (A) – Wodson Park

Saturday 30^th July [15:00] – Hayes & Yeading (A) – SkyEx Community Stadium

*These fixtures are subject to changes of date and time. Further fixtures may yet be added