Story courtesy of Nathan Atkinson at the Keighley News
STEETON AFC begin their season on Saturday, but they are going into it without a main sponsor.
It means their new shirts currently sit blank and long-serving manager Roy Mason admits it is a concern financially, having already undergone what he feels has been their most challenging pre-season ever.
Ahead of their North West Counties Football League First Division North opener at Daisy Hill this weekend, Mason told the Keighley News and Craven Herald: “The sponsor hunt isn’t going very well.
“We’re doing a photoshoot to do headshots in the new kit, but we haven’t got anything, and it’s a huge issue for the club not to have a main sponsor.
“It’s the first time in my 20 years here as a manager that we’ve not had one.
“Historically, the main sponsor has been our biggest contributor, so it’s going to leave a huge dint financially if we don’t get it sorted soon.
“In the current climate, it’s tough for businesses, and we’ve lost a couple of our peripheral sponsors too.”
Steeton will hope to get the issue resolved quickly, with Mason adding: “It’s huge, because obviously we don’t want to play with the shirts blank, but we might have to.
“The new kit is quite retro and it’ll look very retro without a sponsor on.”
Next week marks 20 years since Mason became Steeton manager, yet he reckons this has been the hardest summer of all in terms of his squad, thanks to injuries and departures.
He said: “It’s been the most challenging pre-season I’ve had.
“My first pre-season was hard because I was building a new team having took over, but that’s essentially what this one has been too.
“We’ve lost a few players, while we’ve got Brad Emmerson, Arley Barnes and Keann Shaw suspended for the start of the season.
“Jacob Smith’s had a knee operation, George Kelly’s still not fit after breaking his leg and Owen Williamson isn’t ready after breaking his ankle towards the end of last season.
“Emmerson Mitchell and Harvey Green are injured too, and we’ve lost some players we were disappointed to lose.
“But some we needed to move on to bring fresh players in and what we’ve brought in is a more youthful team, lads with points to prove that have been at clubs like Bradford (Park Avenue).
Discussing that slight change in direction for Steeton, Mason said: “In my time as manager, I’ve always believed in young players and giving them that platform.
“The likes of Kayle Price and Andy Briggs came to us as young players and we developed them and saw them progress.
“Fingers crossed that some of the new lads will have the same kind of impact.”
Coaching-wise, Mason has brought in Paul Linyard and Jimmy Spencer to help, but another blow came with his assistant Matt Barnes departing this summer to join Padiham.
The Steeton boss said: “Over the last couple of years, I’ve tried to bring in as many local players as I can, which we’ve done again, as well as lads that had an affinity to the club and to Keighley football.
“I’ve previously worked with Jimmy and Linny as players and I’ve known them both for about 35 years.
“They’re really keen to put a lot back into Keighley football, which is important to us, and they’ve both fitted in really well, so it’s been a pleasure having them here.
“Neither of them are my assistant as such, I’ve just gone with Jimmy and Linny.
“We’ve brought in a new physio, as our previous one has a new job outside of that line of work.
“It’s been a whole new backroom staff and whole new team we’ve had to build, so it’s been challenging.”
