We did it. What a week for our new Football club, a promotion and a league title within 48 hours. Even better, we had a great party at Millennium Stadium on Saturday to celebrate it all. Thanks to the people at Featherstone Rovers for the season and for last Saturday, everything was class, as usual.
Massive thanks to all the fans that have supported us this season away and at home. Nowadays you can find football anywhere, live or TV, and yet you chose to support Wakefield AFC (WAFC) all around South and West Yorkshire. For that we can’t thank you enough.
Thanks to our fans that can’t come to our game because of work, family or for not being based in Wakefield. Your support on social media does not go unnoticed and you help put us on the map. Stay tuned as we will stream games outside of blocked hours next season.
Our deepest appreciation to our staff and volunteers. Danny and Emma, you are the heart of this club. To all our volunteers, we could never thank you enough. You dedicate precious personal and family time to create social media content, organize and manage game days and a create great event like we’ve had on Saturday.
The Players and the Coach
I know you all love our staff, Gabe and the boys so I would like to share a story so you can understand the type of people we have at the club.
When we’ve appointed Adam to Sporting Director and Gabe to 1st Team Manager in January 2022, we did it because the club needed drastic change on and off the pitch. We have a vision for WAFC and would not compromise although we knew some turbulence would occur. We kept winning on the field and growing off of it and that created resentment with some individuals internally.
On February 18th, I was called to a meeting where senior members of the club told me that if I did not fire Gabe immediately, they would leave and take players with them. Next day, not only I kept Gabe but I’ve let them all go within 48 hours.
Shortly after, true to their promise, some individuals that used to be part of the club tried to help a Step 6 club poach our players. Despite that, we kept our heads down, believed in our process and kept working.
Do you know what our players and Gabe did under such pressure? They’ve showed up to training and kept working hard to win the league. Players could have left for money and to play in a league above, but they choose to stay and represent you and the club. They rallied together, followed Gabe’s lead and the rest is, as they say, history. For that commitment we are incredibly thankful to the boys, Gabe and his coaching staff. You are Champions.
Next Season
We finished the 21/22 season stronger than ever but the journey is just starting. There are great teams and fans in the Northern Counties East leagues above us and we will have to work extremely hard if we have any intention of succeeding.
On the management side our priority is to start building infrastructure in order to improve the club’s financial position. When we took over, WAFC was under severe financial stress and although a lot is being done, there is still a long way to self-sustainability. Additionally, we are working into expanding our partnership with Featherstone Rovers, grow the volunteer group and open the club for commercial partnerships.
On the men’s side we have a great team and we will keep building our analytics department, which today is comfortably on par with anything you can find on the EFL. We will also keep investing on player development tools and in our coaches. We want our players to develop as footballers and progress their careers with us or leagues higher up.
On the Women’s side we will integrate both men and women’s infrastructures and be one Wakefield AFC. This season we will be pushing hard for promotion and our players need your support. We need companies and businesses in Wakefield to step up and support a great women’s team that plays one level below teams like Leeds United and Newcastle United. We believe in Women’s football and want to grow aggressively in the next 3 seasons.
Hard work. Be humble. These are the principles we installed since we came in late November. No promises, no talk of Football League, just work hard every day, recognize we are just starting, have a lot to improve and do the right thing on and off the pitch. We will not always win, but we will build something together.
Thanks again and once more we ask for your support. We can do everything right on the pitch and off of it but without our growing fan base we will get nowhere. In the next few weeks, we will also have a few announcements with new hires, season tickets, club membership, new uniforms and much more. We can’t wait to share it with you.
For now, enjoy your title and promotion. We have some cracking games coming up and we are looking forward to see and hear from you again.
Guilherme Decca – Chairman of the Board
Andre Ikeda – Board Member