To our friends, staff, and fans,
I hope you all had a great start to the new year. We’re excited about what lies ahead in 2025: it’s a pivotal period in our club’s history. Off the pitch, we need to get approval and begin construction on our training facility—fundamental for our long-term sustainability. On the pitch, our goal is straightforward: promotion. I have absolute confidence in our management team and players, and I believe this is the strongest squad we’ve ever assembled. The board’s role is to provide the necessary resources and support to achieve success—and that’s exactly what we’ll do.
Football
We’re coming off an impressive run: unbeaten in 13 games with 12 wins. It’s a terrific achievement, though we’ve had our fair share of frustrations with cancellations.
The postponed fixtures at Ilkley (due to weather) and Maltby (due to Featherstone’s scheduling priority) have left us with a backlog of matches. It puts a massive strain on our team to play eight times in March, but there’s no point complaining. Featherstone owns the facility and rugby takes priority. Ultimately, that’s why we need our own space.
In terms of strength, the squad showed against Nostell (and against Glasshoughton and Horbury) that this version of Wakefield is not only technically skilled but also far tougher—physically and mentally—than in previous seasons. The recent return of Billy Mole only makes us stronger, and we’ll dip into the market if we get hit with injuries or departures.
We believe we need at least 98 points to have a good probability of automatic promotion. It means winning 15 out of the 17 games left. If we finish below 95 points, we’ll likely be looking at the playoffs as a 2nd or 3rd seed. It’s a tough challenge, and we need you at every game to help push the team forward. We all have a part to play.
From the board’s perspective—whether it’s providing top training facilities twice a week, arranging gym sessions and physio, or making new signings—we’ll do everything within our financial capability to ensure this management team gets what it needs for promotion.
If you’d like to hear a more detailed breakdown of our football plans, stay tuned for our next podcast episode, which will be released by February 17th.
Facilities
Our progress toward securing a permanent home base continues on three fronts:
Community Engagement
We’ve been meeting with local councilors and reaching out to businesses to explain our intentions and highlight the community benefits of a new sporting facility. Local support will be key to ensuring the long-term success of this project. As for the location, we can’t reveal it just yet—but we promise to announce it soon!
Wakefield Council
Ongoing conversations with the Council have been positive. As previously mentioned, we’ve agreed to Heads of Terms and will be moving forward with our pre-application shortly. The support from the Council has been encouraging, and we appreciate their willingness to help us move this forward.
Planning Process
We’ve officially retained a planning consultant and architect to develop our proposals. The preliminary architectural drawings are finished, and the consultant is finalizing forms and documents for our pre-application. We expect to submit everything by February 12th. After that, we anticipate about four weeks for feedback before proceeding with the full application.
Once the pre-application is in, we’ll share the plans publicly and walk you through the details.
Marketing & Podcast
We’re delighted to share that our first podcast episode reached over 1,000 listens across various platforms—an impressive figure for a club at our level with minimal marketing beyond social media. We’ll keep using the podcast and this monthly update as our two main channels for important news and updates.
Looking ahead to next season, we’re opening up partnerships for potential sponsors. We need an official podcast sponsor, as well as shirt sponsorship and training-wear sponsorship. If you or your company are interested, please get in touch at commercial@wakefieldafc.co.uk.
Communication on Social Media
A few of you asked why we never directly respond to petty attacks on social media after signings like Billy’s. The answer is simple:
Zero-Sum Mentality: We don’t play zero-sum games. Our focus is on Wakefield AFC and the thousands of potential fans in our district who don’t yet know about us. The local population is huge—over 350,000 people—and our crowds are averaging just over 300 fans per game. We have a lot of work ahead of us, and we’d rather spend our time welcoming new supporters than worrying about other clubs’ opinions.
Class: As Brian Clough once said, “Form is temporary, class is permanent.” We strive to maintain a high standard of professionalism, and we’ll continue to do so.
Updates on Fan Favourites
• Mason Rubie had his knee operation on January 29th. Please join us in sending him positive thoughts for a speedy recovery. We can’t wait to see him back on the pitch. He’ll begin rehabbing with Matt, our physio, next week.
• Oli Rodrigues also underwent knee surgery, and we’ve offered him access to our physio and gym to aid in his rehabilitation—even though he’s not currently attached to the club. Oli and his family are dedicated Wakefield fans and wonderful people. We look forward to watching him play again soon.
• Abdul Asamoah has been cleared to return to training and should rejoin the squad as soon as he’s fully fit.
Final Thoughts
As always, I want to thank everyone—our staff, volunteers, my fellow board members Andre and Rodrigo, sponsors, and, most importantly, our fans.
Your continued support, at home and away, on social media and in the stands, makes all the difference. We’re heading into a critical phase of the season where every match matters, and your presence and passion can help push the team over the line.
Let’s make this final run count. Onwards and upwards!
All the best and onwards to promotion,
Gui Decca – Wakefield AFC Chairman