Here’s our weekly chat about all things Ottery St Mary with the club chairman Mikey Ringer.

He opens things up by saying: “Well, here we are, another week into the ‘lockdown’ with no apparent end in sight...

“I don’t know about everyone else out there but it’s fair to say that yours truly has found this past week a bit of a struggle as frustration kicks in, without being able to achieve what we want to achieve at the football club.

“That said, on a positive note, all this current ‘down time’ has freed up time to write to and indeed talk with, various bodies with regard to seeing just what sort of finance we can draw upon when we come out of the other side of this current Covid-19 situation.”

He continued: “For my part, its very much the mindset that we need to make sure that when this does all end, we are in a position to move ahead and secure a great future for us at the club. With that in mind, I will certainly not be standing idle as I seek to make sure that when we get the green light, its a case of all hands to the pump!”

Mikey then spoke of one or two changes ‘behind the scenes’. He said: “We have been having a look at our committee structure and its very pleasing to be able to report that we are bringing some of the players into the fold – so to speak.

I am delighted that we can now announce that Jasmin Pearce has taken on the post of fixture secretary and this means it takes pressure off our main secretary in terms of those important tasks like the weekly emails re fixtures and chasing teams and match officials etc.

I am also so pleased that Hazel Tucker has taken on the pain staking job of treasurer. This is a massive role and one that I know she will relish, and she will certainly keep the likes of yours truly in check when it comes to ensuring that the club’s money is used wisely. I’d like to place on record my sincere thanks to the two ladies for coming on board to take on these roles.”

Mikey then turned his attention to an on-going issue that has become quite a problem!

He explained saying: “The one real thorn in our side currently – apart from Copvid-19 of course- is the fact that there are still a number of folk – yes, young and the not so young – who continue to think its PK to venture into our club grounds for a ‘kick-a-bout’.

“Please stop this! We have posted notices to ask it to be stopped and we really cannot stress enough that this sort of action goes against everything that the government is advising in terms of us finding a way out of this lockdown situation.”

He continued: “It’s fair to say that of course we’d all love to be out there playing football but we cannot, for all the much-publicised reasons. The police are now ‘on the case’ and I gather that they will be looking to hand out fines where such action is appropriate, so I’d like to think we will see an immediate end to this practise – here’s hoping!”

The Otters chairman concluded things by saying: “Folk may well have seen the recent postings on our club Facebook page. We have certainly been trying to ‘do our bit’ in terms of lifting the local mood! It’s created a right giggle! We thought our players might be a tad reserved and even shy away from such things but no, they have brought into the spirit of it superbly and I applaud them for supporting the effort. What I would say to you good folk out there is watch this space – we are going to try something a little different over the coming week …”