G'day and welcome to a new season and a new era at the Football Club!
This season will be especially different for me; not only am I starting out at a new stadium, but also on a new university course. With the injuries I have had recently I couldn't help but think about life without football, so I thought I'd better do something about it. Martin Gritton and I have enrolled on the Professional Sports Writing and Broadcasting course at the Staffordshire University in Stoke, a course put on by the PFA for professional footballers from premier league to non-league. Media and broadcasting has always interested me, and with doing the summarising last season on Peak FM for our home games and a little work on TV for Australian football, I wanted to see what happens on the other side of the camera as they say! My mate, Barry Roche, did the same course a few years back and told me all about it so when I heard it was starting I went and signed myself up.
Anyway, enough about me! We are all here today to see the new stadium and be in at the start of a new era, but before we do I wanted to say what a great send-off everyone gave to our beloved Saltergate. I think the way the Club staff, fans and players all pulled together was amazing and a great achievement, one we should all be proud of. The boys put on a great performance, and, even though they left it late, got the win to give The Rec the send-off it deserved. It was fitting that Nivo, the current longest serving player, scored the last ever goal at Saltergate. He has been a great servant to the club and is well respected by both players and fans alike.
Now onto the new stadium, and what a stadium it is! I know I'm not the only one to say this, but what a fantastic job the builders and the Club have done. It's the state-of-the-art stadium that the Club needed, and with all the respect to Saltergate it gives the Club the platform to push forward and build a successful future. I have fans saying to me how excited they will be to go down to the b2net Stadium and watch us play, and I have to say that they aren't the only ones looking forward to it. The team can't wait to play on the new pitch, get some early wins and make the b2net stadium a fortress! I'm sure you will join me in wishing the players, staff and Club all the best with the new season. Let's all watch and cheer on what I'm sure will be a successful and memorable one.
Before I go I want to let you know that I will be doing a regular piece in the match day program amd website, keeping you up to date with players' news and stories and player and opposition interviews. I'll also be featuring Aussie phrases to get Derbyshire folk speaking more local to me!
Aaron Downes
