Club Update 16th Jan

Marske United have until the 31st of January 2024 to ensure all player and football club debts have been paid in full and provide written evidence of this to the NPL/FA in order to be able to join a new league next season.

The club is currently on track to achieve this thanks to the extensive fundraising campaign and some additional efforts this month.

Marske United have paid the players and is currently working through the process of clearing the other football debts ahead of the deadline.

Club Statement 4th Jan

Dear Football Friends & Family

As many of you are aware Marske United Football Club faced the real threat of extinction.

Our village football team has punched above its weight for many years, achieving exceptional success along the way, but unfortunately stretched itself too far and lived beyond its means.

The price of a rapid rise through the leagues is exponential for a volunteer ran football club.

Ever increasing travel, wage and maintenance costs, alongside greater infrastructure requirements and the pressures on unpaid volunteers are just some of the many challenges faced by non-league football clubs throughout the region and across the country.

These issues combined with our own unique circumstances such as floodlight sabotage, pitch related postponements, and material delays in last summer’s essential drainage work which prevented any pre-season home friendly revenue ultimately brought an existential threat to Marske United, which has been fighting to survive from week to week.

In all our efforts, our number one objective has always been to try and save the football club.

At one stage that did not look possible, and we apologise unreservedly for how events have transpired, both in recent months and over the past year.

The club is sorry for how the situation has been handled from our perspective.

However, today we can confirm that we have ultimately been successful in our mission.

Thanks to the fundraising efforts, and significant financial contributions from the new directors, we now have enough funds to service and stabilise the critical concerns needed to ensure our football club can continue to exist.

If this money had not been raised, then Marske United would not have been allowed to return in any familiar name, shape or form at any level, or play at Mount Pleasant ever again.

The club has been saved.

However, our second objective was to save our season.

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts on and off the pitch, we will not be able to achieve this after exhausting every available option to raise the £120,000 in funds required to get the First Team to the end of the season.

The ongoing weekly and monthly costs to operate at this level are just too great, even with the implementation of further significant cost saving measures to reduce the deficit.

At this stage any further attempts to continue down this path would ultimately jeopardize objective one, as there are no guarantees we would be successful in our efforts, and these would most likely be detrimental to our main mission, leaving the club with no funds, nor future.

However, our collective efforts have not been in vain.

All of the money raised so far will provide our community club with a solid foundation to rejoin the football pyramid at lower-level next season where space is available.

This will provide Marske United with a platform to rebuild again properly in terms of organisation and infrastructure, and the club will survive.

Thus, with a heavy heart the club informed the Northern Premier League and the FA of our decision to withdraw from the Northern Premier League Premier Division which has been accepted.

We would like to place on record our thanks to all official stakeholders for their assistance, guidance, and support behind the scenes, which is often unseen by most.

Discussions as to which league the Marske United First Team will play in next season are already underway. A final decision will be ratified by the FA at the end of the season.

The Marske United Junior Teams will continue to play this season. We also plan to move our remaining Marske United Reserve Team fixtures from New Marske Sports Club to Mount Pleasant to continue to provide weekly football for the community, free of charge, as per North Riding League regulations.

This will ensure that the facilities at Mount Pleasant are well-maintained ahead of the return of league football for the First Team next season.

We would like to thank all the players, coaches, volunteers, partners, other clubs, but most importantly the fans for all their countless efforts and unwavering support.

For now, there will be break, but this not a goodbye by any means, and as always, we will be back!

Sea...Sea...Seasiders

Marske United Football Club

BBC Tees Interview With Manager Graeme Lee

MARSKE UNITED FC COMMUNITY CLUB EST 1956

MARSKE UNITED NEED TO RAISE £120,000 IN 2 WEEKS IN ORDER TO REMAIN ALIVE

PLEASE DONATE AND HELP SAVE THE "SEA SEA SEASIDERS"

See our bio below and hear our manager Graeme Lee speak about our cause.

BBC Tees Interview With Manager Graeme Lee

Marske United Football Club are the heartbeat of this community.

Established in 1956, the club have seen enormous changes in recent years both on and off the field. With several promotions, FA Cup runs and the profile that this has given to the team, has put the village on the map.

In addition to the 1st team, we have also grown with an ever-expanding Junior set up with boys teams, and a girls team with plans for more. We have a Reserves team and a very active Walking Football team.

All contributing to the togetherness of Marske United.

Seasider Sid (our mascot) has been instrumental in enhancing the matchday experience of our numerous Flag Wavers who come from the local schools, local cubs/brownies etc and other sports groups and organisations as part of our community work.

The club also provide a link with the local University and Colleges to give opportunities to students to further consolidate their studies with real time experience - See the video as part of this page, produced by a student Ben Fearnley who went on to achieve a 1st Class Honours Degree.

The club are continually active in the village supporting events such as the Marske Christmas Parade as well as offering the clubhouse for community groups to meet and socialise each week with over 300 people involved on a regular basis.

The club have also been successful in raising funds to run holiday clubs for local children.

The previous season saw us play within the Northern Premier League, Premier Division for the first time and the increased funds needed to continue to operate, which include, playing budget, additional travel costs and extra stewards at games. Changes of manager and a monumental effort to retain status at this level, together with these additional operating costs meant that some debt has had to be carried over into this current season.

With the previous chairman resigning recently, the club had hoped to move to a Limited Company and to open a share scheme to guarantee survival to the end of this season and beyond. It has now been established that this would take 6-8 weeks so unfortunately is not sustainable as the club would not be able to play during that time. Therefore all payment of share options are now being returned to supporters and investors alike.

So, we have estimated that we would need £120,000 to survive till the end of the season where we can once again look at a share option as a Limited Company to protect and develop the future of our community club.

We are now hoping that the local community, businesses, and general supporters could help us reach our target and get us back playing football.

Thank you in anticipation of your generosity.