Retford United chairman thanks Mansfield Town for pre-season friendly opportunities
Stags will get their pre-season campaign underway later this month with what has become the traditional opener up at Retford.
For the League One promotion hopefuls it's remains a popular, yet very much routine, fixture in their early calendar.
But it’s a rather different scenario up at Retford with the glamour game bringing in much-needed revenues to help fund the Step Five club’s ambitions for the season ahead.
The Cannon Park fixture - pencilled in for July 14 - is a game that Badgers’ chairman Nik Springthorpe is undertstandably delighted to see taking place.
“Our annual pre-season match against Mansfield Town has become a fantastic tradition over the last 7–8 years, and once again it will provide a huge boost to Retford United,” he said.
“As a newly promoted Step 5 club, every pound generated from a crowd of 1,500+ makes a massive difference. It helps us budget for the season ahead, maintain our facilities, look after our pitch and continue building the club for everyone involved.
“On behalf of everyone at Retford United, I want to say a huge thank you to John and Carolyn Radford, the players, coaching staff and everyone at Mansfield Town for their continued support and for making this fixture possible year after year. Your backing of clubs like ours is genuinely appreciated and never taken for granted.
“We look forward to welcoming everyone to Cannon Park for another fantastic evening of football and community spirit. Thank you for your continued support, it really does make all the difference.”
Last year’s encounter ended up in a comfortable 6-0 win for the visitors with a Dom Dwyer brace and goals from Will Evans, Kyle McAdam, Elliott Hewitt and Aaron Lewis sealing the deal. But, while scorelines don’t matter at this stage of the season, Retford are keen on making the contest a night to remember.
“The lads have put in a lot of hard work during the off-season to make sure they returned in good shape. We’ve come back to pre-season with the squad at a really good level, and that’s a credit to the effort they’ve put in away from the club,” said assistant manager Jas Colliver.
“The application and attitude of the group has been tremendous. Everyone is pulling in the same direction, working hard for one another and setting high standards from the very first session. It’s been a really positive start to pre-season.
“We’re really excited about our annual pre-season fixture against Mansfield. In fairness to Mansfield, they’ve always shown this game great respect by bringing their full first-team squad, and we’re extremely grateful for their continued support.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for our lads to test themselves against professional footballers, but the occasion is just as important for our football club and the wider community. We hope to see a record-breaking attendance this pre-season and create another memorable day for everyone involved.”
Online tickets can be purchased here.