Martin Howe is dedicated to maintaining Wythenshawe FC’s ‘family feel’ to support others, just as it helped him.
The 40-year-old is a director at the club and became the senior chair at the start of the season.
But his involvement with the club extends well beyond the boardroom, with the club being there for him when he needed it most.
Howe said: “With so many people involved the biggest thing is the family-feel.
“I lost my mum in 2021 and the first place I came, bizarrely, was the football club to let off that emotion.“
There are people in the club that have been through really hard times and do exactly the same thing because they know there’s a safe haven for them.”
The commercial finance broker first got involved with the club in 2017 as a fan and became more involved with The Ammies as they rose through the divisions.
After he organised an ale festival which helped to raise several thousand pounds, he joined the committee to help with the matchday organisation.
Howe was vice-chair for several years before he became the senior chair at the start of the season.
He said: “Everyone sees chairman as a glamour job but it’s a case of delegating, asking people to do stuff, getting volunteers involved and just enjoying being part of a club that’s such a family, community-based thing.
“We do charity games and junior fundraisers, they get four or five hundred people coming to watch. It’s amazing.”
It is now easier than ever to get involved and volunteer at your local non-league club thanks to Pitching In’s Volunteer Hub, which allows clubs to advertise roles online.
Last season, Wythenshawe FC won the North West Counties League Premier Division to complete back-to-back promotions and reach the Pitching In Northern Premier League Division One West.
Howe remains committed to bringing the club up through the divisions whilst protecting their financial sustainability.
Crucial to the club’s aims is the development of a 4G pitch to host the club’s 63 teams.
The director said: “That’s our ideal, to have a facility where people come, it’ll make the bar busier, it’ll make the food place busier, we’ve got a caterer who runs our kitchen.
We want it to be a sustainable club, everyone enjoys it, generations come through, to join as a three-year-old, and then in the first team in years to come, that’s the key.”
Find volunteering opportunities at your local club by visiting https://pitchinginvolunteers.co.uk/
