Chelmsford City Football Club and Coggeshall Town Football Club are pleased to announce a new footballing partnership.
The agreement will see Chelmsford City work closely with Coggeshall Town to help develop the Coggeshall Town men’s first team and, over time, seek promotion back to the Isthmian League whilst enhancing the Chelmsford City Player Development Pathway.
Coggeshall Chairman, Graeme Smith, commented, “When I was approached by Chelmsford City I could see a partnership would be a positive way forwards to bring back stability to the club and our supporters. I am very keen to make this work for the long-term benefit of both clubs. I met with Steve Shore & Adam Drew last week and we agreed a way forward, which we are now implementing. The partnership will take pressure off myself knowing that the football side of Coggeshall Town will once again be well looked after. I will still be involved with the Admin side of the club in my role as Chairman.”
Chelmsford City Chairman, Steve Shore is very positive about the partnership. “I was reading Twitter and saw the post from Coggeshall Town about wanting a new manager, club secretary and having no playing budget and immediately got on the phone to Robbie. One of our core goals at Chelmsford City is to provide a development pathway for our Youth section and whilst the CCFC Reserves has been OK, we have been missing the next step to fill the gap to the first team. We tried various options with Hullbridge Sports last season, and other loans, which worked to a degree but hopefully this partnership provides the stability that we need to better align and maximise the future development of our young players.”
Robbie Simpson, CCFC Football Manager reiterated Steve’s comments: “It is really important that we can provide an appropriate pathway for our players and so when Steve called me and spoke about the opportunity I jumped at it. There were a lot of things to consider but we had several internal meetings to go through the pluses and minuses and on balance struggled to find too many negatives so all agreed to pursue and it is now happening. It represents a huge step in our development pathway which we expect to deliver long-term benefit to our club.”
Rob Moore has been appointed as Manager at Coggeshall Town and Head of Development Pathway at Chelmsford City. Rob will work closely with Robbie Simpson (CCFC First Team Manager) Mickey Spillane (CCFC Assistant Manager and Academy Manager) and Adam Drew (CCFC Head of Recruitment), to recruit the resources and manage the team on a day-to-day basis.
Rob commented: “It’s great to be straight back into football after the disappointment of last season. I think this is a great opportunity with the right leadership and parties involved to create a successful team. The coming season will be tough as there are some relatively big spenders in the Essex Senior League but as Chelmsford City showed last season, you don’t have to have the biggest budget to deliver success and I am planning to do the same at Coggeshall Town.”
As part of the partnership, the clubs will be increasingly working together for the benefit of both clubs, and their supporters, including:
– Season ticket holders; Two deals have been agreed; a new combined season ticket will be introduced that enables season ticket holders to attend all home league games of both teams for the 2023/24 season as well as discounted matchday tickets being made available. The clubs will work with the relevant leagues to maximise the opportunities for attending games and in particular are looking to host Coggeshall Town games on Friday evenings.
– Pre-season friendlies; Chelmsford City will be seeking to move their fixture against Colchester United U23’s to Coggeshall on Tuesday 25th July and the clubs are working together on further pre-season games at Coggeshall.
Both clubs hope that their supporters get behind this fabulous collaboration and support both clubs.
FAQ
What does this mean for the playing budgets of both teams?
A small incremental playing budget has been agreed for the Coggeshall Team but not to the detriment of the Chelmsford City playing budget.
This will enable the squad to be strengthened with some seasoned players that can help guide and support the developing talent provided from Chelmsford City.
Does this mean that Coggeshall Town is effectively Chelmsford City Reserves?
Not at all, Coggeshall Town has a long history that needs to be preserved. It will have its own players and club identity.
It will however be a key part of the development pathway for talent at Chelmsford City providing that bridge between the Academy and the First team at Step 2 of the National League so expect to see several Academy/ex-Academy players continuing their development journeys at Coggeshall.
What happens to the current Coggeshall Sponsors?
Coggeshall’s main shirt sponsor will continue to be Octagon Fire Protection and everyone is grateful to Mike Wark for his continued support.
Who will run the Coggeshall clubhouse and events?
These will continue to be in the hands of the Coggeshall Town bar staff managed by Suzy Wade.
Who is maintaining the pitch?
One plus of the partnership is that the Coggeshall Town groundsman will maintain pitch assisted by the connection to Chelmsford City Racecourse and its plethora of turf maintenance equipment, which will be supporting him to create a great playing surface.
Who will manage the team?
Rob Moore will take over the management of the team. Last year Rob was joint manager at Hullbridge Sports but is seen as a progressive young manager who the respective parties believe can do a great job for Coggeshall Town.
Rob will be supported by the Chelmsford City management team including Robbie Simpson (First Team Manager), Mickey Spillane (Assistant First Team Manager and Academy manager) and Adam Drew (Head of Recruitment).
What is this new “Head of Player Development” role?
A key element of the Clarets10 Vision is to provide the opportunities for players to develop and progress their football. This starts with the Academy, which doubled up as the CCFC Reserves, and then players have been loaned to Steps 4 & 5 Clubs before progressing to the First Team at Step 2.
Whist Mickey and the Academy team work with the players under their care, this role will help focus this activity and ensure the football development pathway is working effectively. Rob Moore will take on this role alongside his role in Managing Coggeshall Town FC.
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