Good afternoon Ladies and Gents, boys and girls and welcome back to Priestfield for another season of league football.

I hope you all had a pleasant summer and are well prepared for the challenge ahead as we face the battles, twists and turns and dramas that, no doubt, this season ahead will throw at us as we once again try and climb the Football League table. I would be fooling no one if I was to say we are happy to be back in League Two, and that is with no disrespect to any of the fine clubs in this division, but the manner in which we were dealt such a cruel blow on the final day of last season seems to typify this Club all over.

We always seem to be on a huge high, or indeed as in this case a huge low, and one I must say most of us thought we could have, and probably should have avoided. None the less there are no guarantees in football and no Club has the divine right to be in any one division, that is a right that has to be worked for and earnt, and in our case, whilst our home record was superb, the same could not be said of our away results and thus we suffered the consequences.

For me personally, the month of May has to have been the worst month, bar one, of my life. I lost two of my closest friends, one we buried on the day before Wycombe and the other , who didn't pass away, was lost through a combination of greed and deceit, traits that you would rarely find amongst true friends and certainly, in my case, a situation that has been very difficult to deal with.

I then had the matter of dealing with the departure of the previous management team, which proved difficult and in the case of Scott Barrett is still ongoing, and finally the Bank and the effects financially caused by our position took some handling and caused a re- write of our trading forecasts and budgets.From a personal point of view I had to look very carefully at my own position, given we were once again back where we started, albeit a very different version of the club I inherited in 1995, and to carry on meant I had to be certain with the type of person that was to be in control of team affairs.

Clearly I had stood by Mark Stimson, backed him throughout, believed in him, given him the necessary time to achieve success, but we were back at square one, and as such I needed someone in whom I could totally trust to bring back the passion, commitment, drive and togetherness which to a great extent I felt we had lost to some degree over past seasons. I also needed someone to lift me and make me excited about the difficult football challenges and journey ahead again, to make me want to have another go at promotions and cup runs and all the other factors in football that come with the job.

That is the reason I appointed Andy Hessenthaler, because firstly I can trust him totally with the Club, and secondly he will bring back the essential qualities, disciplines and determination to win that are required in any football club if progress is to be made. I fully accept that bringing someone back to a club is not always a good thing and I agree with that generally, but I've known Andy since the day I signed him from Watford, he is a good honest and trusted person, and although he is also a friend, we do have a strong business and football relationship.

He will make decisions that are right based on footballing reasons, and I will support him as I would any Manager in that position and he knows he will be judged on the decisions he makes. Andy has the job on merit, not because of friendship. He did a great job in difficult circumstances during his last spell at the club and has since gone on and done a fine job at Dover showing his ability at bonding teams and gaining the respect of those that work with him, particularly on the pitch.

When I discussed the job with Hess, it was pleasing that all he wanted to talk about was winning and football, not contracts, terms and money; that is the character of your new Manager. Although we had intended to keep Mark Robson, ultimately that couldn't happen which allowed Hess to bring in his own person in Ian Hendon with another return for Nicky Southall as first team coach, Trigger has now made more come backs than Dean Martin, but it's good to have the old team back together.

Since the arrival of the new team there has been a massive and very positive change of feeling about the place both on and off the field. It's great that our Captain Barry Fuller re-signed a new contract along with Mark Bentley, Dennis Oli, Gary Richards and John Nutter and I know they will be a big part of our drive for automatic promotion this season, which has to be our only focus. I'd also like to welcome our new signings, Adebayo Akinfenwa, Cody McDonald, Danny Spiller, Lance Cronin, Tony Sinclair, Stefan Payne and Andy White, and off the field our new physio Steve Allen and consultant physio Javed Mughal.

I would also like to wish Simeon Jackson good luck with his new Club Norwich, having been transferred there for a fee in the summer. A big thank you to all our other staff who have been superb at every step of the journey, despite facing a number of new challenges, and welcome to our new Club sponsors, Automatic Retailing, who have taken over the Krbs baton for an initial twelve month period.We are very grateful to have you on board and hope you enjoy the season and bring us good luck. Thank you also to Krbs for what you have done in the past and we are delighted you are maintaining a good level of support for the Club

Finally I would like to thank you, our supporters, for standing shoulder to shoulder in support of the team. I know from my own feelings how painful May was for you all, and indeed, we all shared anger and emotions that were not good, but we've turned another page. We have a bright new Management team, a very eager and determined bunch of lads, not to mention a very together squad of talented individuals, and a big challenge ahead which we need to face together. It will be far from easy but we are not fazed by what's ahead and we will go ahead focussed and with great determination and passion and, ultimately that will be our strength.

A big welcome to all from Cheltenham and enjoy the game. Let's make Priestfield rock in the way you know best. Enjoy the season