New club owners James Treadwell and Adrian Shandley are relishing the challenge of taking Southport FC forwards into a new era. They have initially identified appointment of a management team and player recruitment as a priority and have been focusing their efforts on these areas.

The club has recently invited applications for the vacant managerial position. It was important to James and Adrian that the process should be advertised widely, with all applications allowed appropriate consideration.

The new directors have been overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of the applications received. A shortlist has been drawn up and the club are currently in the process of inviting candidates to interviews.

The target is to complete the interview process and have a new manager appointed at the earliest possible opportunity, hopefully by the end of next week.

The Annual General Meeting for Pinewise Limited is provisionally called for Monday 5th June and will include a shareholder’s “meet the manager” event.

The new directors acknowledge that shareholders previously submitted a request for an EGM to the former board and confirm that the new board will honour this request with the EGM being incorporated into the AGM. Calling notices for the upcoming AGM will be sent out to shareholders shortly.

The board of Southport Football Club is currently being re-constituted and can confirm that Charlie Clapham and Sam Shrouder have stood down from their roles as Directors.

James and Adrian aim to build a strong board with varied knowledge and skill sets to help drive Southport Football Club forwards.

James and Adrian would like to thank Charlie Clapham and Sam Shrouder for their support of Southport Football Club for over 35 years and can confirm that neither Charlie nor Sam now hold a controlling shareholding of the football club following recent share transactions.

As lifelong supporters of Southport FC, James and Adrian are keen to lay out their plans for structured supporter engagement and are excited to meet with Trust In Yellow to discuss these aspects on Tuesday 16th May.

The directors intend to hold regular meetings with the Trust In Yellow board to discuss club matters and will encourage robust and transparent reporting from these meetings.

James and Adrian both feel that the Supporters Trust is the right vehicle for supporter engagement, operating democratically, openly and transparently and would encourage all fans to join the Trust and interact with them to ensure they continue to act as the representative voice of the fan base.

The new directors are looking to undertake several ground renovation and improvement projects starting with required work identified to the toilets and the construction of a disabled platform for which funding has been secured. Work on both will be completed prior to the commencement of the season.

In conjunction with the immediate ground improvement plans the club will shortly be releasing a survey to supporters to get their views on improvements they would like to see to the ground as well as gathering fans opinions on matters such as matchday amenities, entertainment and pricing structures.

There are a number of pre-season fixtures in the process of being arranged and we hope to have a full list of these to release within the next few weeks.

Details on season ticket sales and pricing will be announced shortly.

James and Adrian would like to express their appreciation and thanks to all the volunteers who contribute their time to Southport Football Club on matchdays and during the week, your efforts are widely appreciated.

The directors hope that we can continue to attract such dedicated and passionate volunteers and look forward to working with and supporting you all.

Both James and Adrian appreciate this is an emotional time for supporters and would appeal to the fanbase to allow them an opportunity share their vision, build a relationship and all work together for the long-term benefit of Southport FC.

Clapham Muppets Clapham and co out now