John Gallimore started volunteering at FC United of Manchester in 2006 and continues to love it.
The 74-year-old became a fan in 2005 when the club was founded and has since helped with the club flags inside the stadium and at reception.
He said: “It’s our club, we don’t consider it work, it’s stuff that needs to be done to keep our club going and obviously save costs.
“It is quite often a job that goes unnoticed which suits me, I’m not in here for the plaudits, I’m here for the benefit of the club.”
Gallimore said he used to follow the club around the country, but he no longer has a vehicle, so sticks to home games at Broadhurst Park.
He is one of approximately 40 FC United of Manchester volunteers instrumental to the club’s operations.
Gallimore said: “It couldn’t operate without volunteers, just couldn’t happen.
“The number of volunteers who do work not just on a matchday but during the week as well, the club just couldn’t operate with them.”
For Gallimore, like many others at FC United of Manchester, it was the Glazer family’s takeover of Manchester United that served as the catalyst to get involved.
Between 2006 and 2014, the club ground shared Bury’s Gigg Lane, before moving to Broadhurst Park in Moston in 2015.
He said: “I first started volunteering in 2006, the first season was spent in a drunken stupor, the second I started putting flags up before the game and taking them down after the game at Gigg Lane.
“We had a load of big bags we stuffed them all in, hidden away under the stand, so it was a grafting job that, not an easy job. Some of the stuff was very heavy.
“When we came here in 2015, I did another season on the flags, then I started volunteering on the reception.
“We have passes to keep the tunnel secure and I’ve been doing that since, before and after the game.”
And Gallimore has no plans to stop.
“I’ll probably be here every week for the foreseeable future, until I’m unfit,” he said.
Find volunteering opportunities at your local club by visiting pitchinginvolunteers.co.uk
