The Welfare Ground pitch, of course, is Marcus’s particular and personal responsibility, and during the close season it receives a good deal of his time and attention.

Marcus said: ‘At the end of a season the pitch is scarified, which gets the dead grass out, then it’s reseeded, fertilised and top dressed, this time with sixty tons of sports sand which gives it durability and assists with drainage. Then it was a matter of a few weeks TLC to get it up to a playing standard for those first two friendlies. And this year we purposely set things up so that afterwards there were no more home friendlies, giving me another window to take the pitch up to another level. Ready for next season I’ve purchased some new pitch-maintenance machinery which is why we’ve built a mower shed in the corner of the ground, as close to the pitch as possible, so there’s no transit across concrete paths. Again, it’s all about increasing quality wherever we can, and of course the pitch itself is a huge part of that.

CROSSING THE FINISHING LINE

There were times in May and June when the Welfare Ground looked more like a builders’ yard than a football club and as the Huddersfield Town game drew closer, activity intensified as the various projects moved towards their conclusion. Starting early and finishing late became the norm. ‘Numerous days I was here and working by five o’clock in the morning,’ said Marcus. ‘Literally with the sunrise.’ Not much later, Becky would be at her desk, co-ordinating logistics in the style of a military operation, and she was ably assisted in the final fortnight by Marcus’s son Charlie and chairman Andrew Painten’s son, Zach as she made numerous trips to the cash and carry. The RMP team also remained hard at work, and for our part the Tuesday Club was kept busy handling numerous small assignments as well as continually cleaning and tidying in every corner of the ground.

Finally, on the evening of 27 June, Marcus was ready to mark up the pitch, a symbolic moment for all concerned, but especially for himself.

He said: ‘Marking the pitch was the last big job and it felt great. I’d double cut it earlier in the day, then I strung it out and marked it and I think I finished about twenty to nine at night. And as I did so six of my RMP guys gave me a round of applause.

I have to say it’s largely because of the work ethic and the skillset of my RMP team - electricians, joiners, builders, fabricators - that we were able to get these projects done in record time. The club’s fortunate to have that resource to lean on.’

Marcus singled out Becky for her organisational work; John Moore, who had started the building work off back in March and was involved right through to the final day; and Richard Oates, contract manager at RMP and an Emley AFC board member, who played a massive part in installing new electrics all around the ground as well as in the new facilities. Also getting a special mention from Marcus were Becky’s dad John Longstaff, who undertook the plumbing work in the new changing rooms on a completely voluntary basis (ably assisted by his daughter!), and, last but not least, Emley’s famous Tuesday Club.

‘I can’t praise the Tuesday Club enough,’ Marcus said. ‘They were a massive help throughout and they keep me on my toes! Without them and other volunteers here we couldn’t do what we do. Running this football club is a full-time business. Something needs doing every day and they help us hugely in doing that.

‘So marking up the pitch really was a huge moment for me and everyone involved. All we had to do then was shut the gates and then turn up the next morning, drop the nets and put the flags out. After that the staff and volunteers rolled in and we were ready to go. Everything had come together.

‘We couldn’t have had two bigger tests than the friendlies we arranged against Huddersfield and Barnsley. In the hospitality sector a soft opening is usually the way, but we had 2,000 and 1,600 people here when our new facilities were put to the test, and all the feedback we got was entirely positive. That was good going. And the directors, management and coaching staff of both those professional football clubs made it known that they were impressed by everything they found here. The pitch, the appearance of the ground, the new facilities. They had a good snoop round and said: ‘Wow, how long has all this been here?’

LOOKING AHEAD

Following promotion from the NCEL at the end of the 2024/25 campaign, Emley AFC performed exceptionally well in their first season back in the Northern Premier League, exceeding expectations by reaching the NPL East promotion play-off semi-finals.

It’s fair to say if the club had been promoted once again the the board would have done everything possible to find a way to survive and thrive at non league Step Three, but Emley AFC’s board members have always said the club’s overarching philosophy and long-term plans have to be built from a position of financial sustainability, and that has been the club’s primary focus during an exceptionally busy summer.

Club vice chairman Marcus Pound explains:

‘Last year was difficult at times but we came together as a club and ultimately had a successful season. Now we’ve had a successful and productive offseason and with developments around the ground completed we take our philosophy forward.

‘On the pitch our ambitions for next season are realistic as always. Once more we’ll push on, enjoy the journey, strive to be as competitive as possible and see where that takes us. I have a fantastic relationship with our manager, Richard Tracey and his team and he fully understands our ethos, our principles and how this club runs. We won’t do what we can’t afford, and I will always strive to run the club a step ahead of the team because playing catch up never works.

‘The sponsorship arrangement with Sanctum Energy will reduce the club’s running costs significantly and bring in extra income. The two hospitality areas behind the goal will allow us to sell hospitality on a proper basis, so that should provide a healthy income stream. The away changing room extension was primarily to satisfy a ground-grading requirement but the long-term goal is to construct a new changing room block on the cricket pavilion corner of the ground and convert the existing changing rooms into a larger clubhouse facility.

‘This should increase match-day income and may eventually allow us to run full-time clubhouse with separate function areas which is something you tend to see at clubs from Step Three upwards. And in the new block we’d like to create home and away changing, two officials’ rooms, a dedicated physio room, a gym and, subject to planning, additional hospitality boxes above it with raised viewing. So you can see we’re ambitious off the pitch as well as on it.

‘And along the way this summer we’ve reinstated power to our third turnstile at the top corner of the ground which historically, in the 1980s and 90s, got used week-in, week-out. Now that’s powered up again we’re once again ahead of ground grading requirements we hope to have to meet in the future. In everything we do we try to be one step ahead, and that ticks another box.

‘I’ve heard it said that standards is a key word for me. Absolutely it is. There have been times when people have said you don’t need to do this or that. But no, we’ll do things how we see fit and let other people follow suit, which is what often happens!

‘The players buy into what we’re doing and in fact they’re our biggest sales reps. They tell people they like it here, and when I bump into ex players, including some who have gone into management, they say they’ve been telling their current clubs they need to be run like Emley. There can be no better accolade than that!’