Former Finance Director Phil Hodgson is relishing the opportunity to develop the Club’s community strategy over the next year.
Phil explained the reason for the change “I’ve enjoyed my time as FD and am proud to be passing the baton over to Paul (Owen) with the Club on a sound financial footing. The Club is a business and the finance operation of any business is vital to its success. Having a volunteer like myself doing it is not sustainable long term, and creates a massive risk should the volunteer just walk away. Bringing Paul and Libertas Accounting in puts us on a more professional footing as we look to take the Club to the next level.”
So what does the new role of Community Director involve?
“Community engagement is part of the IMG grading criteria but more importantly if we want the Club to be loved by the south Leeds community we have to put something back. Serving our community is something close to my heart.”
“I am currently tasked with working up an action plan to benefit the community and the Club. We can’t do everything straight away but the good news is we are not starting from scratch. We already do a lot of good things but have perhaps not been the best at recognising the fact. So one of my first jobs will be to shine a light on those achievements and the individuals who make them happen.”
“Another priority is building strong partnerships with other community groups. South Leeds is fortunate that it already has organisations like the Hunslet Club that do fantastic work. There are many others as well. I’ll be contacting them over the coming weeks to see how we can best work together.”
“I’m really excited to see what we can achieve and will be on the look out for volunteers to get involved, so please watch this space.”
