Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome back to Priestfield as we begin our final sector and run in to the season end. I'd like to welcome our guests today from MK Dons and especially their Chairman Pete Winkleman, who has done a remarkable job over the past few years in taking the Club forward and into a new purpose built arena, and built a decent side to go with it.

Whilst their results of late have perhaps been a bit inconsistent, they will no doubt be eyeing up the play-off spots and will still be hoping to be amongst those in the mix come May 8^th. Today, however, we will be doing our utmost to look after our own interests and if we continue to perform at least as well as we have been over the past few weeks, we are quite capable of leaving Priestfield at 5pm with all three points in the bag.

Our trip to local London rivals Charlton last Saturday demonstrated everything that's good about this Club, and in particular our players and supporters, and reaffirms why I care so passionately about the place and the people. I sat for the entire game with a deep sense of pride at what I watched on the pitch, and with what I was hearing from the away terraces, with our 3000 or so travelling supporters out singing the Charlton faithful and getting behind our team for the entire 90 + minutes of the very exciting contest.

I think it would be fair to say that, whilst we mostly went away content with a point, there was a deep down feeling that this was a game we could quite easily have won, such was our performance on the day. Even my Charlton fan friends who I met for a beer after the game were pleased to have got something from the day, in fact the only person that seemed to think they should have won the game was the Charlton manager Phil Parkinson, who also stated they outplayed us, but then 17000 Charlton fans at the end of the game can't all be wrong !!

None the less it was a great effort on the field with outstanding performances all round and an equally tremendous performance from the terraces which I'm certain reflected much on the way the lads went about their business. We clearly need to maintain this all round performance throughout the remainder of the season, and if we're able to do so then there's no doubt we'll be playing League One football here next season, but take our foot off the pedal we must not do.

I'd like to formally welcome one of our Directors Michael Anderson to his new role as Vice Chairman of the Club with effect from March 1^st. Michael has been involved with the Club for about a year and has been a tremendous help in many areas of the business, sharing my views and ambitions for the future, and offering much support in terms of time and marketing initiatives. I have no doubt that in the fullness of time his presence will be invaluable as we seek to steer the business through some of the most treacherous trading circumstances we have witnessed in modern times.

Indeed football as an industry is experiencing great difficulties in general, although I'm still trying to get my head round quite how a Club on the South coast, earning £50m - £60m or more a year can go into administration owing reportedly £80m of debt to creditors. That takes some doing, but it does rather highlight the somewhat fragile state of affairs within our game and must be a worry, but also must serve as a warning to us all as we seek to improve our lot and push for greater glory. It serves as a rather pointless exercise to charge up the ladder, only to fall off at the top and suffer serious damage.

On other matters, we will be having our Player of The Year Dinner Dance on Saturday 8^th May starting at 8pm, so if you haven't already got your tickets please contact the Commercial Dept, or call the ticket office. It's always a great night and a chance to meet the Players and Management. Voting forms for your player of the year will be handed out at the Leeds game on Saturday 17^th April. We will also be launching our Season Ticket Purchase Scheme for next season at the same game.

Finally I'm delighted that many of our supporters voted in various polls in respect of the new home strip for next year. Clearly the almost unanimous view was to go for the blue and black stripes, which served us so well in recent years, for next season and as we live in a democracy, that's exactly what we shall do. Personally, I've always liked the stripes so I'm more than happy, and if it brings us greater success then we'll all be winners.

Today though is about three points, get behind the lads and let's give them as much help as we can. Enjoy the game and thanks for coming

Up the Gills
Paul D P Scally
Chairman