Big Interview: Bamber Bridge chairman Brian Ginty on his plans for the club amid the challenges of the ‘new normal’ in non-league football

Bamber Bridge chairman Brian Ginty is confident that the club can bounce back in a stronger position following non-league football’s shutdown with the help of supporters and local businesses.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The FA announced last week that crowds of no more than 15% of a club’s minimum grading capacity, which differs per league, would be permitted to attend football matches at non-league steps three and below from August 22, provided they enforce social distancing rules.

That guidance is set to change from August 31 onwards, allowing crowds of 30% of grading capacity, but clubs must have hosted a match at 15% before moving up to the higher percentage as part of a two-stage plan.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The NPL Premier Division has a grading capacity of 1,950 fans, meaning Brig can admit a maximum of 300 spectators at 15%, and 600 at 30%.

Brian Ginty and Jamie Milligan (photo by Ruth Hornby)Brian Ginty and Jamie Milligan (photo by Ruth Hornby)
Brian Ginty and Jamie Milligan (photo by Ruth Hornby)

They are set to host National League North side Chorley on Saturday – the plan at this stage is to use that game to comply with stage one of the plan and permit 300 spectators.

That would mean that their first home game of the new season in September would permit crowds of 600, a similar figure to Brig’s average gates in the previous campaign.

Ginty is looking forward to having fans back at the Sir Tom Finney Stadium, but has stressed that the social distancing rules need to be followed by all.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He said: “I’m confident we can do it – the problem is that the onus is on the fans to do it whilst we’re expected to police it.

“The fans have got to act responsibly and take social distancing seriously. You can’t have groups of more than six together, and then they’re supposed to be socially distanced from another group.

“It doesn’t go hand in hand with football, and that’s why they’ve been a long time in getting it through and getting it agreed.

“We have to play one game with 300, so with the Chorley game we’ll get that under our belt, that’s stage one, and then stage two we move to 600.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“After Saturday, if we’re reasonably happy with what we’ve done, then we’ll say, ‘That’s it, we’re happy now,’ and move onto stage two.”

Ginty discussed the difficulties the club has had with renewing advertising, but that the confirmed kick-off date for the new season has provided clarity in that area.

“Up until last week, until we really knew what was happening, it’s not really been worth going around to them,” he said.

“They can’t really renew advertising unless they know that we’re going to kick the season off.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Now we know, we’re ready and ramping it up. There’s lots of work going on around the ground and we’re just trying to tidy the place up as we always do.

“We’ve been working towards kicking off and I just wait to get going in earnest.”

Whilst the return of fans will provide some logistical issues, the return of much-needed income will be vital for Brig over the course of this season and beyond.

During the months of lockdown, Brig relied on business grants and crowdfunding as a means of income.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

An online fundraiser has, to date, raised over £6,500 for the club since it was opened in April, something which Ginty described as a great achievement, thanking the fans for all their efforts.

“Before lockdown, 
the club was bubbling 
along really nicely, the football was bubbling along really nicely,” the chairman said.

“We were selling up on functions, selling out on gigs, everything was running swimmingly and it was looking like a bright and rosy future.

“Come lockdown, we had to close. We still had some expenses to pay, there were still some things that were accrued from the season that needed settling and there was no income for essentially three months, other than the small business grants and the crowdfunding.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Since lockdown restrictions were eased at the start of July, Brig have been able to re-open their clubhouse, having completed a refurbishment during lockdown which will provide an improved environment for customers, once they can return to taking bookings for family functions.

They have also put on various outdoor concerts, which Ginty says has generated valuable added income for the club.

He says that the money in from those ventures has been crucial, whilst praising those that have helped to set the events up.

He added: “We’ve done extremely well every weekend because we’ve managed to have a concert outside ever since we’ve been able to put an outside concert on.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“To be honest, without them it wouldn’t have been worth us opening, other than keeping our regulars happy.

“We can now hold them inside, you can have somebody inside now, but everybody else has got to be seated.

“They’ve got to be socially distanced, so we can only have 70 people in. When we’re outside we can have double that.

“It’s been absolutely superb. There’s been a core amount of people that have done it, moving the tables in and out and making the thing happen.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Without them making it happen, it wouldn’t happen if we didn’t cart all the stuff in and out.

“We’ve put the gazebo up and there’s all sorts that’s done to make it happen. It’s been worthwhile.”

Brig have been forced to reduce the playing budget for the upcoming season due to the pandemic and uncertainties over sponsorship.

They will also miss out on the lucrative pre-season friendly against Preston North End, which Ginty says would normally set the club up for the first few months of the season.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Despite those issues, the chairman praised the efforts of both manager Jamie Milligan and his management staff, and says that both club and manager are working hard together to ensure that additions are made to the playing squad.

Ginty said: “We’ve tried to set Jamie a budget that he should be able to work on.

“He’s working hard to get in some loan players to help supplement it, and he said it was coming together when I spoke to him on Tuesday, so fingers crossed that things go.

“By September, by the time we start football, hopefully we should be able to get in up to 600 fans.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“ That, in all but three or four games, is absolutely ample for our normal gate.

“Hopefully our gates won’t drop that much so we’ll still keep that level of income.

“We’ve got an aim to stay where we’re at and do as well as we can at this level, but we’ve got to do it on a tighter budget than we’ve had in the past.”