Diamonds ready to issue a call to arms with ‘Save Our Summer’ project

Diamonds are launching a project under the banner of ‘Save Our Summer’ in which they will look to raise £25,000 to take care of their costs during the closed season and to ensure money generated for the next campaign can be used for exactly that.

It’s been a difficult season at Hayden Road.

On the pitch, Diamonds have been relegated from the Southern League Premier Central although manager Chris Nunn has guided his team in the right direction with their performances of late as they head to Tamworth this weekend on the back of a morale-boosting 2-0 home win over Basford United on Tuesday night.

But when Nunn was installed as the new boss at the end of last year, his first remit was to reduce the playing budget as a fresh board of directors, who came in following two emergency meetings, aimed to reduce costs.

As they face up to a return to Step 4 football next season, Diamonds chairman Rob Usher is keen to give Nunn “what he needs” to ensure they are competitive and, to do so, the club will be reaching out to their current members and fans in the summer months.

But Usher is keen to emphasise it won’t simply be a case of the club going around with a begging bowl.

“There are a lot of clubs who are going to be feeling the pinch after the events of the last few years,” the Diamonds chairman said.

“And right now, where we find ourselves, there’s a big gap between now and pre-season where there is all that closed season stuff - the legal compliance, the ground grading, the pitch maintenance - it’s money we have to spend.

“We could take next year’s sponsorship deals and next year’s season tickets and we could use that to spend to get us through the closed season but all that’s ever going to do is serve to reduce the playing budget.

“We have seen so many times how one relegation can snowball into two or three and before you know it, you are playing UCL football again.

“So ‘Save Our Summer’ is a project around raising enough money without touching the stuff that forms next season’s budget and building a bridge between this season and next.

“We are hoping there will be an element of this that will be donation based but we are also looking at what incentives we can do as a board to generate some revenue.

“Asking for donations during a cost of living crisis is a strange angle to be coming in at and we understand people won’t always be able to do that.

“But we will be putting out things that will drive revenue for the club and it’s a massive request for people to get behind and support it.

“If there are people who have stopped coming and not renewed their membership, this is the time where we’d ask them to give us another chance.

“We are doing our due diligence at looking at grants and things like that and really try to make it a collaborative effort between the board, the membership and the wider fanbase to just get us over this hump.

“We want to make sure that when we start next season, we give Chris what he needs to give us a really good go at Step 4.”

Usher also confirmed that plans remain in place for Diamonds to move to a new home in the future.

It was in 2019 that Diamonds confirmed that they had agreed, in principle, with the Duchy of Lancaster to lease 11.6 acres of land adjacent to the B645 Chelveston Road, just off the A6 near Higham Ferrers.

The club will also be seeking two new board members over the summer.

“This will also be about setting out the long-term vision and working with the partners and stakeholders at the new home,” Usher added.

“A lot of people feel it has died a death. Ultimately, it’s still very much there. It’s just had to take a backseat over the course of the season.

“There will also be vacancies for two new board members in July at the EGM and we want people to come forward.

“Hopefully what we have shown since November is that you don’t need to have experience of running a club. You just need to be willing to come in and work as part of a team and have that passion and that drive to move the club forward.

“It’s a call to action really for people who want to get involved and push the club on.”