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CEO Update - County FA Workforce

Firstly, I hope that you and all of your families are safe and well as we collectively battle the coronavirus pandemic in these difficult times for all. Our hearts go out to anyone who is affected, whether this be by personal health, the health of a loved one, or financially; these are terribly unprecedented times and people’s health and well-being is paramount.

As you will be acutely aware, all grassroots football including matches, training and friendlies, is suspended and will continue to be until further notice from the Government and The Football Association. Further details can be found on the coronavirus FAQ’s page of our website.

These are obviously difficult times for the football community and the financial implications are far reaching as we face the reality of no football for the foreseeable future. We fully understand this and our support to clubs and leagues will be imperative during this time and indeed when we are able to start playing football again. Sport England have recently announced a £20 million Community Emergency Fund and if you haven’t already done so, I would urge your club to look into this at the earliest convenience – more details can be found here on our website. 

Our staff are also part of the of the football community and as such their job security and well-being is extremely important as we move forward.  Since the suspension of the game there has understandably been a significant downturn in the workload of the office. Likewise, without the game being played the financial model of the Association is severely affected. We are a non-for-profit organisation whereby any income received is reinvested back into the game, whether this be to support the County FA workforce, our voluntary workforce, or investment in projects and the various initiatives that we deliver to grow and develop the game in Staffordshire.

From Friday 3rd April 2020, our Board of Directors agreed to enrol onto the Government’s Job Retention Scheme in order to safeguard our staff and the Association’s short and long-term future. Quite simply put, football needs to be played for our range of services to be maintained.

The Government’s Job Retention Scheme (Furlough) is a temporary leave of absence for economic reasons designed to save jobs in the long-term. The Staffordshire FA members of staff who are affected by this understand and are supportive of this positive course of action. We very much look forward to their return to work at the earliest opportunity.

For the immediate future we will be working with less than 50% of our usual workforce, but we will be continuing to provide a service to the Staffordshire football community and can be contacted via the usual channels with emails being directed to: support@staffordshirefa.com 

The current workforce in place consists of the following members of staff:

Chief Executive Officer – Adam Evans
Head of Strategy & Investment – Kevin Staples
Finance Officer – Joanne Adams
Communications & Relationships – Gareth Thomas
Workforce Lead – Danny Hickinbottom
Participation Lead – Bethan Woolley
Regulatory Lead – Vicky Collins

I want the grassroots football community in Staffordshire to know that as an organisation, we are here to support you through this unprecedented period. These are challenging times and we will endeavour to make decisions aimed at safeguarding the future of the game in Staffordshire. In tough times our football community comes together as a team and this is certainly a time to do that.

Stay safe.

Adam Evans, Chief Executive Officer