The new Chairman has been in place for just a very short while and already he is facing the same negative and derisive comments and attacks from various individuals.

As part of the Clapton Ultras, these individuals having boycotted all matches for more than a season and have now created their own club within the Middlesex Football League. With that, one would have thought that there is now no reason for members of Clapton Football Club still be receiving emails and social media messages of this nature.

For those that have a genuine support for the club and it’s progress, we are more than happy to meet with you.  To that end, Mark North has written the following statement:

“As the new Chairman of Clapton Football Club, I am very keen to build an open line of communication with our club’s supporters. Interestingly, if you type “football supporter” into Google you will get the following results: “a person who is actively interested in and wishes success for a particular football team”.

My door is always open to anyone who has an interest in the Official Clapton FC team. However, responding to frequent random questions on social media from people who do not appear to fall under this category, takes away valuable time that can be spent on the task at hand. In my first week I have been called a “scab” and “enemy of Clapton FC” from those who do not know me and have no interest in getting to know me as they have their own agenda.

People are entitled to have their own views and if these people believe that Clapton FC is not the club for them and they want to follow the new entity known  as Clapton Community Football Club, that is their choice and I will not hold a personal grudge towards anyone. I’ve made it clear from the outset that I am simply here to help the club, the players and the Clapton FC supporters who actually want to see the team do well and push on.

Clapton FC has a damaged reputation and things must, and will, change. I will be attending as many home games as possible and would be delighted to speak to anyone who wants to talk to me. I’m a down to earth, reasonable and approachable man and will always try to answer any reasonable and constructive questions asked.

To summarise, I will need to spend an initial period of time assessing all areas of the club and will then be working hard with everyone involved to ensure we progress. Once I am in a position to provide more information we will be posting updates through the club’s official website and social media channels.”

As we move towards the beginning of the new season, we want to put our energies into football and not having to publish things not related to the club moving forward.