The club has announced its management line-up for next season which includes the return of former manager Paul Tong who will run the first team jointly with Kevin Cruickshank, last season’s manager who successfully took over following the November resignation of Nick Banham. Tong, who was assistant manager to Bill Punton at Wellesley Road in the 1989-90 season and fully in charge of team affairs between 1997 and 2004, was most recently at Diss Town until near the end of last season.

Other appointments see Eden Rudling, last season’s goalkeeping coach, take on the Reserves, while Ian Griffin and Mark Scales will continue with their successful Under 18 set-up. A new venture is a pre-existing Under 9 side which is coming under the Bloaters’ banner next season, and this is run by former club player Wayne Hunter.

Roachy is Back! Yarmouth's former goal-scorer extraordinaire Stewart Roach returned to the Bloaters last Saturday after several years Suffolk exile at first Lowestoft Town and latterly Leiston. The Caister-born ex-Norwich City apprentice joined Yarmouth in the mid-1990s as a Youth player after not quite making it at Carrow Road, and after scoring six in one game for the Under 18s went on to play for the Reserves and first team within the week! The re-signing was not without its problems, and involved Ian Griffin "door-stepping" the Leiston chairman to get the business concluded in time for Roach to play against Whitton!

Roach had a dazzling career at Yarmouth and was leading scorer for four seasons, amassing 122 goals in 197 games. As a contracted player, he attracted a four-figure transfer fee when he moved to Crown Meadow in March 2000. In January of that year, Roach had a trial at Oldham but failed to impress then-manager Andy Ritchie and Lowestoft snapped up the clearly unsettled player who 'enjoyed' an on-off relationship with then-Bloaters boss Paul Tong.

Roach now declares he wishes to see out his playing days back at Wellesley Road, where the fans adored him, and his working-relationship with Dale Gordon is clearly a factor in this decision. Roach, now 29, has astonishingly been playing at centre-back for Leiston but Yarmouth are well-supplied in that department and manager Kevin Cruickshank will restore him to a striking role as a partner for the so-far equally prolific Nicky Crawley who has scored in every game so far. Although he did not score on Saturday, and only time will tell if he can recover that ability, Roach has other qualities he can contribute to the team, according to Cruickshank. He has had problems with injuries and is not 100% fit at the moment but was due to help that improve with a run-out with the Reserves on Wednesday against Caister.

All in all, 2008 is looking to be a year of great promise and expectation at Wellesley Road as new chairman Stephen Brierley and Director of Football Dale Gordon get stuck into their roles ever more deeply. The club now has the chance to go forward that it has never had before in quite the same way and with support building the lean years look set to fade away. Under manager Kevin Cruickshank and his assistant Ian Griffin the team has responded most positively to the changes at the club, playing attractively, scoring goals with a regularity that once seemed elusive and with only one defeat in December.

The committee was joined by other club workers and helpers on Monday to hear a report on the progress made so far, one month into the new set-up. And remarkable progress it has proved to be in such a short time.

Chairman Stephen Brierley informed the meeting that sponsorship and financial support, so far amounting to five figures, has been obtained with more promised on a three-year plan basis; work on the Wellesley ground, including repair and renovation of the stands, Bloater Bar and Tea Hut is in the planning stage in conjunction with a co-operative Council, with getting the main stand in order a priority. Amongst other ideas being developed are match-day presentation and entertainment, and community involvement.

Director of Football Dale Gordon said that he has taken steps to speak to replacements for Nick Banham as manager. It is possible that the immediate appointment may be temporary until the end of the season. Both Gordon and Brierley said how pleased they are with the work Kevin Cruickshank has been doing with the Reserves and first team although he has said he does not want the top job on a permanent basis.

Gordon said he has been contacted by several players about joining the club but he was unable to name any due to their present situations with their current clubs, and any movements will not be until the end of the season anyway.

Gordon also said that progress would be a case of ‘one step at a time’: “We first need to get the club back into the Premier Division of the Ridgeons League, which will be our aim for next season, before we can even think about further ahead. We also want to smarten up the ground and make attending a match a more pleasant and rewarding experience for spectators.”

Both Brierley and Gordon spoke of their admiration for the tremendous work being done by all those present and said everyone who wanted was going to be a vital cog in the future working of the club. There are openings for more volunteers to help around the club, especially on match days, and all interested should enquire of club secretary Brian Smith by telephoning 01493 656099. This is also the number for initial enquiries regarding sponsorship and other forms of assistance to the club.

Nick Banham, Great Yarmouth Town’s manager, has left the club. The likeable goalkeeper/manager told the players, already shocked by the defeat to Fakenham, in the dressing room last Saturday.

Apart from a brief spell at Dereham, Banham has been with Yarmouth since April 1998; he was brought to the club from Mulbarton by Paul Tong, and has proved the most enduring player, other than Mark Vincent, of modern times, amassing 438 appearances – and many friends in the local football scene. Banham turned to management last November when he was appointed caretaker-manager before being confirmed in the post in May.

Following new chairman Stephen Brierley’s appointment of Dale Gordon as Director of Football, Banham had been concerned about his own position at the club. A meeting with Gordon had been requested by the Youth team management and had taken place, and although Banham had not asked for one, he was expecting a meeting with the first team staff but this did not happen.

After rescuing Great Yarmouth Town from the rocks it is steady as she goes for the rest of season, according to the club's saviours.

New chairman Stephen Brierley and director of football Dale Gordon stepped into the breach last week, taking over the crisis-stricken football club.

Former Norwich City ace Gordon's phone has not stopped ringing since the announcement he was coming on board with millionaire businessman Brierley. “Players have phoned me left right and centre who want to be part of what we are trying to achieve,” said Gordon.

“It is a question of being patient, and if the right opportunity comes up we will get them involved, but it is important to do this like a professional set up. There is a lot of support for the club in the town and I have received so many messages of support.”

“At the moment we are just working quietly behind the scenes and making sure that the club just runs itself from now until the end of the season. There are a lot of dedicated people at the club and it is important that we keep them involved.”

Gordon said he was planning to have discussions with manager Nick Banham and other members of the backroom staff to see if they wished to remain part of the new set-up.

"I will speak to the management side to assess the current situation and talk to Nick about his role. It is important to see that the club progresses in the right way, and we appreciate the hard work that goes into it. Hopefully once they see what we are trying to do they will want to be a part of it.”

The former Canaries star has already pencilled in a pre-season friendly between Norwich City and Ipswich Town all-stars in a bid to bring the feel-good factor back to Wellesley Road.

Miles Jermy

A new chapter begins. Welcome Mr Stephen Brierley! The club committee unanimously elected the local and international businessman as chairman on Monday, and a storm of media interest followed. With Dale Gordon and Dion Dublin also coming on board, the words “dream team” have also been banded about.

Mr Brierley is a former Huddersfield Youth captain so knows a thing or two about football but he sees himself as masterminding the business side of things while Dale will oversee the playing aspects of the club and Dion will have an ambassadorial role. The new man said: “After looking around I felt positive from a business point of view that I could take it further, but I would not have got into it without Dale as my partner because he brings the wealth of football knowledge I have not got.”

A self-made, award-winning multi-million businessman who started out as a humble trader of broken biscuits on Yarmouth market, Mr Brierley heads an expanding family food empire - Brierley Foods - that has interests in Turkey as well as Yarmouth.

As a lifelong lover of the game - his office is stuffed with football memorabilia - he says this opportunity is a “dream come true” (that word again!); he says he wants to put something back into the town that has nurtured him since he moved here as a teenager.

Mr Brierley stressed that he admires all the people who have given their hearts and souls into keeping the club going and wants everyone to carry on doing what they do. But he will be looking at everything and everyone in the next few months to see what else can be done with the resources the club currently has. “Progress will be made but we will take things slowly for now; it will take time but the pace of change will improve,” he assured the committee; plans are already being laid for refurbishing the clubhouse!

One of his first problems, one that emerged only on Monday, is the discovery of structural problems with the stand. The council immediately closed it to the public until remedial work can be done, work that it seems will cost hundreds of thousands of pounds! Mr Brierley is arranging urgent talks with the council on this and other ground-related matters.

MR JAMES STUBBS

Monday also saw the passing away, after recent illness, of supporter Jimmy Stubbs who will be greatly missed. Jimmy “transferred” from Gorleston a few years ago after over 50 years of supporting the Greens, and last summer he was awarded Supporter of the Year for his tremendous support of the Bloaters (and of the Tea Hut where he was dubbed “Mr Bacon Roll Man”)! Young player Robbie Oldham said Jimmy was always ready with a supportive analysis of the game. A funeral service is to be held at Mary Magdalene Church in Gorleston next Thursday at 10am.