EXECUTIVE BRIEF: A great party but it's back to work (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

EXECUTIVE BRIEF: A great party but it's back to work

3:00pm Friday 11th May 2012 in Sport

I THINK that Saturday’s game at Bradford was always going to be a pretty uneventful affair with them safe in League Two and us crowned champions.

The fans did get the chance to celebrate on the pitch with the players after the game though, so I think they’d say that it was worth the trip.

On Sunday we had our real celebration at the County Ground, which was our ‘party on the pitch’.

Mark Isaacs (stadium manager) put on an absolutely brilliant event and we’ve set the standard for end of season celebrations now.

The fans got the chance to engage with the players and take pictures with the League Two trophy and the entertainment from Toploader, Lightning Seeds and everyone else was fantastic.

The only shame was that Jeremy Wray (interim chairman) wasn’t there to share his appreciation with everyone there.

He felt unwell up in Bradford – the paramedics had a look at him up there and declared him fit enough to travel back down – but I convinced him to check himself in to hospital when he got back home and he’s there resting now.

He had some swelling in the knees and we’re still unsure what caused the condition and what the treatment will be.

I’ve spoken to him a lot and he’s in good spirits and, in this day and age, it’s always easy enough to communicate when you need to.

It is still a bit unfortunate to be without your chairman at a time when you’re discussing things like player contracts.

Paolo (Di Canio, manager) is running his slide rule over players at the moment and deciding which ones he’d like to keep and which ones he wouldn’t.

For those that are out of contract, it’s up to us to let them know what the situation will be before May 19.

There are always rumours at this time of the year and that’s something that won’t ever change in football.

But we’ve done our celebrating and we’re concentrating on what needs to be done for next season now.

It’s been a challenging 12 months but we’ve achieved our goals.