A letter from our Founder & Secretary

When I formed the club over eight years ago many said that it would not make the first season yet alone the following seven. Yet here we are the very first and only club in the Tamworth area to achieve the prestigious F.A. Charter Standard Development Award. Hard work, enthusiasm and a belief in providing junior football for as many boys and girls as we can have resulted in the highest recognition by the Football Association. There are two awards to be gained, the first is Charter Standard and the second higher and more prestigious is Charter Standard Development which is the one that the club has been awarded.

Where as many clubs have and will need to put F.A. set requirements into place before applying for this award, Cottage Farm were ahead of the field and already had many of these requirements in place. The need for a proper structure was recognised in its infant days and has been one of the main contributory reasons for its continued growth. One of the first clubs in Tamworth to recognise the need to provide football for girls has been another demonstration of the clubs forward thinking and it now has Under 12, Under 14 and Under 16's playing in leagues in Staffordshire and Warwickshire.

Achieving this award is a testimony of the unselfish hard work that has been put into the running of the club by the officers, managers and helpers who have given up so much of their time so that the players might benefit. Many might say that the club has not had a lot of major success but this is not so as the club has major successes every year by providing quality coaching for all its players and by enabling those who would be shunned by the so called successful teams to develop and improve their football skills. Cottage Farm Rangers have always maintained that junior football should be about the improvement of the young player both physically and mentally. To enable the club to keep its commitment to its players it has invested heavily in making coaching courses available for all of the coaching staff. All managers of teams are now a minimum of Junior Team Managers Award trained, four have coaching certificate badges (plus one on the way) and one has and another is at present taking his UEFA B badge.

The F.A. Charter Standard Development is to football as ISO 9000 & 9001 is to industry and is a Kite mark that demonstrates that this club provides only the very best for its members.

To mark this achievement, representatives of the club have been invited to a presentation dinner where their achievements are to be formally acknowledged.

To all those who have enabled us to achieve such high recognition THANK YOU & WELL DONE, you have all made me even prouder of the club than I was and believe me I was already exceptionally proud of it.

Good strong foundations have been established which has given us stability and will enable Cottage Farm Rangers to progress further over the coming years.

A very proud Founder & Secretary.