As we approach the end of 2023, I wanted to provide an update ahead of the winter break and to have a look back at what we have achieved together during the past 12 months.
Before doing so, I want to thank all our fans, sponsors, volunteers and staff for their tremendous work and support throughout the year. We appreciate all the support that the club receives from everyone, SMiSA, Kibble, Kibble Skills Academy and every individual that contributes to our club.
It’s been fabulous to see the increased attendances at The SMiSA Stadium and the healthy growth in income generated from gate receipts and commercial activities. With gates regularly exceeding 7,000, the work done by the Marching On group and our pre-match entertainment organised and delivered by Paisley Panda & our SLOs, I’m sure you’ll agree that there’s now a much better atmosphere at home games.
On the park, the team secured a top six slot in the Scottish Premiership at the end of the 2022/23 season for the first time ever in the current format. Since then we’ve occupied the top half of the league for most of this season after a very encouraging start to the current campaign. Whilst results recently have been less positive, it’s important to note that we remain in fifth place and have amassed almost the same number of points as last year (26 after 20 matches compared to 27 after 20 matches last season). We all feel disappointed when results don’t go our way but if we back the team positively, I have no doubt that will translate into better results on the park. We have built a strong squad as evidenced by the increasing number of players being called up for international duty.
During the year we have moved forward with our work on the alignment across all of our football activities with the pathway from our Academy to our first-team being mapped out clearly. We have also been working to support the development of our Women’s team and the Girl’s academy. A special mention and congratulations to our Girl’s Under-14 team that recently won their league cup!
Off the field you will have noticed the new LED scoreboard and advertising boards. This will be followed early in the new year with LED advertising boards on the exterior of the Main Stand and these will result in welcome additional revenues for the club in future. Three new Executive Boxes have been built in the Main Stand and will be brought into use in early January and we are grateful to SMiSA for supporting investment in this area. Again, these will bring in extra income for the club as we build a more robust financial model for the future.
These projects, along with the community activities in primary schools and the partnership with local charity, Home-Start, are clear examples of how we are progressing on our mission of being the best community centred development football club in Scotland. Related to that community ethos I also want to highlight the fantastic work that’s been done by our Charitable Foundation and Street Stuff. They’ve delivered so many fantastic programmes for the benefit of people across Paisley and beyond throughout 2023.
We are still working on securing funding to replace The Dome. As soon as any decisions have been made I will update further. Early in January, work will begin to clear the site behind the North Stand.
So, whilst there is still much to do, I hope you’ll agree that the Club has made good progress on a number of fronts in 2023. With your continued support there is no reason why we can’t continue that progress in 2024.
Meantime, I wish you and your families a happy and peaceful New Year when it comes.
