Hats off to Leek chairman Eeles for big charity effort
LEEK Town chairman Jon Eeles wears many hats in his role with the club, but it’s all for a good cause.
In the run up to Christmas, he can be seen wearing several different hats on his Twitter feed, from resembling R2D2, Matthew Mcconaughey, Elvis and even Mickey Mouse.
It’s all to raise a laugh around the festive season, as well as raise money for Douglas Macmillan.
And to show how serious he is about fund raising for such a good cause, he even agreed to wear a Kidsgrove Athletic scarf at the club’s home game against Skelmersdale United on Saturday.
“I said I’d wear a Kidsgrove Athletic scarf at one of our home games if someone pledged £50 for charity. Someone did, and since then I’ve received more pledges, so I had to go through with it,” said the chairman.
In total, he was hoping to raise around the £200 mark, but he’s already gone past that. Now he’s targeting £300 and is hoping more people will donate their cash.
“It’s all for a good cause. The company I work for raise a lot of money for Dougie Mac, so it’s an extension of that, I suppose,” said Eeles who is finance director at KMF Group, who specialise in sheet metal fabrication.
He’s been in the chair at Leek Town now for the past three years, after taking over from Andy Wain and, as you would expect from a finance director, knows a thing or two about what it takes to keep a nonleague club floating above the water.
He explained: “It’s a tough job, because the economic climate is not great at the moment. People are also worried about what will happen with Brexit, so it’s tough trying to get people to part with their cash. But what I will say is the club is in a good position at the moment, but that doesn’t mean to say we rest easy. We’ve got to keep looking at new ways of bringing in finance, it’s a big job, but we have a good bunch of people at the club who give up a lot of their time to make sure we keep ticking over,” said the chairman.
“What we have noticed is that because of the current climate, we are finding it more difficult to attract new sponsors, as most non-league clubs are, but we do have good backing at Leek Town and we always make sure we let our sponsors know how much their help is appreciated.”
Stoke City playing some of their under-23 games at Harrison Park has also helped to bring in much-needed cash.
“That’s a big bonus for us this season, we’ve had a decent turnout for the games played in Leek, so we are grateful to Stoke for that. We have a good relationship with the club and that’s something we hope will continue. There is also quite a large Stoke City fan base in the Town, we don’t see so many of them when Stoke are at home, for obvious reasons, but when Stoke are away, we do see a few of them at our home matches, which is great to see.”
The club also hold several fund-raising activites such as sportsman’s evenings. Former Stoke City goalkeeper Mark Crossley was the latest to visit Harrison Park and the next visitor could be another Stoke City favourite, Liam Lawrence.
The chairman said: “Liam was the guest at a sportsman’s evening at Alsager Town and that went down very well. Liam is a popular figure. Who could forget what he did for the club during the promotion run to the Premier Division. So that’s something we have in mind and hopefully we can get that sorted, I think that will be well supported.”
One big step in the right direction however, is gates have increased this season by around the 15 per cent mark and Eeles says that is testament to the kind of football being played under manager Neil Baker.
The club stalwart, who led Blues to an FA Trophy final appearance at Wembley in 1990, left his post at Crewe Alexandra to take over the reins at Harrison Park full time and although the club just missed out on the play-off spots by a whisker last season, Eeles says things are looking good on the pitch.
“I think we are seeing a rise in the number of people through the gates because we are playing good football under Neil Baker. Yes, it was disappointing we didn’t make the play-offs last season, but a good run over Christmas and into the New Year, will keep us ticking over nicely and in touch with the leading group.
“I also think the changes made in the summer to regionalise the divisons have helped.
“We don’t have quite so far to travel than we used to and that means we are getting a few more visiting fans through the gates. Some of the clubs in our division are quite well supported and that benefits everyone. I believe we are the fifth best supported team in the Evo-stik West Division.”
Eeles was quick to thank the fans who part with their hardearned cash every week.
“We get good support home and away, so I’d like to thank those who come down and get behind the team. We can’t guarantee we are going to win every time, but the football is good, and that’s down to manager Neil Baker and his management team who are doing a great job. The players also deserve credit, they are a good bunch of lads who all get on well together, in fact I remember Neil saying the atmosphere in the changing room after the recent win at Droylsden was the best he has seen for a long time, that’s always great to hear.”
Leek are sitting fifth in the Evo-stik West Division after Saturday’s 6-0 home win against Skelmersdale United and just eight points off leaders Radcliffe FC with two games in hand.
On Boxing Day, Blues travel the short distance to take on Chasetown, managed by former Newcastle Town boss Scott Dundas and then they don’t play again until New Year’s day when they welcome local rivals Newcastle Town to Harrison Park. There are no games scheduled for Saturday, December 29.
And a final message from the chairman: “Have a great Christmas and a prosperous New Year ... and don’t forget ... non-league football is not just for Christmas.”