Let’s drive this club back into Football League
SOUTHPORT FC is embarking on a new era of professionalism and community involvement, according to its first CEO.
Natalie Atkinson stepped into the role this week, with the job of breathing new life into a club which has suffered from stagnation and lack of progress in recent years.
She took on the job having carried out a major transformation at fellow National League North side Curzon Ashton, and now believes she can do similar at Southport, but on a much bigger scale.
Speaking to the Visiter after a hectic start to the new role, she explained: “We want to be the focal point of the town, we want to be the premier sports club in the town and for people to be excited when they think about Southport.”
Before starting at Curzon, she worked with the Manchester FA and the Merseyside Sports Partnership. Now she feels she can use all of that experience to drive Southport forward.
The club is situated in a well-populated town but has struggled to engage fans after a number of turbulent seasons.
Rather than see that as a problem, Natalie argues there is huge potential for the club to grow and ultimately achieve its on- field ambition of reaching the Football League, while also offering much more off the pitch.
She said: “When I was started at Curzon 18 months ago, there was no real profile, it was seen as the little club at the end of the road.
“Yes, results help, but we need to raise the profile and change the way people in the town see the club.
“My role immediately is to speak to people and see what Southport fans want to see. Southport is a oneteam town, there’s no barrier to engaging the club with the town.
“I can take what I did at Curzon and scale that up here, no doubt about it.”
One of her first impressions of the club was the volume of work done by the many volunteers who help the club on match day and through the week.
She is planning to meet with them next week to introduce herself and discuss ideas for the club’s future.
“It was a real positive eye-opener,” she explains, on learning of the volunteer input. “That’s a real difference here and volunteers are the life-blood of any sports club.”
As well as having a key role in the stadium improvements which have already been announced by the club, Ms Atkinson is already in the process of setting up a Community Foundation Programme to help the club give back to the town.
This will be boosted by funding from the National League Trust and will eventually become a registered and self-sufficient charity.
Among the many ideas to improve community involvement will be hosting significantly more events at the stadium, from events such as Christmas parties and Bonfire Night celebrations to bigger celebrations and innovative ideas.
This will become more practical once the new stand on the Popular side is built, adding more corporate and function space.
There is also likely to be an academy with college links in place by the start of next season and an increase in the number of junior teams affiliated with the club.
Progress is also under way on plans to build fullsize 3G pitches both for the club and community use, with a number of locations in the town being considered.
As part of the drive to engage with fans, Ms Atkinson will be moving around the stadium at Southport’s next home match on Saturday, speaking with fans about her and their ideas.
One of the advantages of arriving mid-season, she argues, is that she will have time to implement such ideas ready for the summer.
“It’s the right time to come into a sports club because you can see how it is run already and you have time to get new ideas in place to start again next season.”
One of the key aims is to attract more children and provide a better experience for them.
Primary school pupil are already given free entry to home matches, but this will be strength- ened by sending a season ticket to every child in the town for next year. Plans are also being discussed to improve the match-day experience for children, with ideas such as introducing a fun zone with interactive games and the chance to play with players from the youth teams being discussed.
While the club is set to undergo major change, it won’t, however, do so by leaving behind everything that is already in place.
Those who volunteer their services, in particular, are seen as an asset, rather than something which needs replacing.
“It’s about taking the club into the 21st century and into the Football League,” Ms Atksinson said. “It’s about professionalism: when you walk in the front door, it should be professional.
“When you go to buy a burger, it should be professional, right through every aspect of the club.
“We will be bringing new ideas in, might be changing some things, but it is about being realistic and sympathetic to the needs of the people at the club.
“We don’t want to lose people, there are always people who don’t want to go on the journey and that’s fine, but there’s people who have been here 15/20 years and we want to make the most of their experience.”