Recently I had the chance to catch up with Lowestoft’s Finance Director, Mark Kemp who gave me an insight into his crucial role at the club. He is employed as Strategic Business Manager at The Ashley School Academy Trust, a special school for pupils with moderate /complex learning difficulties, in Lowestoft. Previously Mark spent over 20 years working in finance roles at Great Yarmouth Borough Council. Mark is also a former football referee, visiting Crown Meadow many times when “The Trawlerboys” were in the Eastern Counties /Jewson League.

Describe your role at LTFC.

“I offered my services and skills to the Board after hearing of the difficulties the club was having earlier in 2018 and was delighted to be invited to join the Board of Directors, as Finance Director, in June 2018.
My role is essentially to keep and maintain up to date financial records for the football club including managing the payroll system. I purchased an integrated finance and payroll system to make the management of the accounts easier moving forwards.
Essentially, I initially started off working with existing and new sponsors for the perimeter of the pitch and around the ground, for the programme, players and match days before taking over the finance role fully in November.”

What inspired you to get involved with the club?

“I’ve always been involved with football from an early age. My late father was, for many years, the club secretary of our village team, Elmsett (near Ipswich) who played in the higher divisions of the, now, Suffolk & Ipswich League (SIL). When I was around 18 years old I took a refereeing course and when completed I started refereeing; refereeing and running the line initially at local matches in the SIL. As I gained experience I was fortunate to gain promotion to the Jewson League line. I “appeared” at Crown Meadow a few times whilst on the Jewson League! After I retired from refereeing, due to a back injury, in 2000, I had a season ticket at Portman Road, home of the Pride of East Anglia, Ipswich Town, for a few years. Gradually the standard of football declined, and I started coming to Crown Meadow more often. I was inspired by the standard of football and level of commitment by the semi-professional players and at the same time Lowestoft were always near the top of the league and the matches were always competitive. So, I guess I was already involved as a supporter, I’ve just taken that a step further by volunteering. It was obviously a difficult time to join but I hope I’m making a difference by at least freeing up more of Gary’s (Keyzor) time to deal with other things at the club. I’d like to think we’ve already got a good working relationship and he’s also always available to check on anything I’m not sure about. The whole board works well together as we all have different roles which helps to share the workload out a bit more evenly than perhaps was the case last season.”

What’s it like as a volunteer and being able to juggle working life as well as volunteering at the club?

“It’s not easy! I have a great, but a very demanding, job as Strategic Business Manager at an outstanding local special school. My role involves managing finance, HR, payroll, IT, contracts for catering, grounds maintenance, cleaning, furnishings, premises maintenance and improvement works as well as overseeing procurement. Currently, I’m also overseeing the General Data Protection regulations, as Data Protection Officer, and act as Exams Officer for the school. Basically, I’m responsible for nearly everything that doesn’t involve teaching in a classroom. It’s a 52 week a year role! Luckily, I have an outstanding team of office, IT and Premises staff who all do a fantastic job of ensuring all our classroom staff have the resources to keep delivering an outstanding education to our pupils.

I had a lot of free time in the evenings when I volunteered. I don’t have so much now! Sundays are for my boys (Robert, 10 and Stuart, 8) so most of my football work is completed during midweek evenings. Mostly it involves reconciling bank accounts and payroll as well as paying creditors for services received by the club and raising invoices for services provided to others by the club. There’s also coordinating the pre-match hospitality requirements with Brenda, our Bar Manager, and hospitality volunteers, as well as ensuring sponsorship details are updated in the matchday programme etc.”

What would you say is the best thing about volunteering at the club?

“It’s very similar to my day role so ensuring we can maximise the resources available for the playing side of the club to bring Lowestoft Town further success in the future. I love the feeling of all supporters being involved, as the supporters banner said we are all “One Team – Players and Supporters”, all trying to achieve the best for the club. It is great to see so many people who are regular supporters at both home and away matches give so much of their time to help the club. I genuinely believe we are the friendliest club in this league, and in the Ryman League previously.”

What was your favourite moment as a Lowestoft fan and as a volunteer?

“Winning promotion to the National League North was a huge achievement for a club like Lowestoft. Geographically isolated, and, in my opinion then, mistreated by The FA when switching us from the NL South to the NL North at the last moment would have been the end for some clubs but that dogged determination to take it on the chin and rise to the challenge presented was a huge achievement. Winning that play-off final was the single highlight for me, I think I was first onto the pitch at the end of the game that day to celebrate such was the emotion. I enjoyed visiting Dulwich Hamlet in the Ryman League. It was fantastic to see the huge support that they had generated from their local area, with supporters of all ages spread around the ground.”

How did you get involved and how can someone reading this get involved?

“I got involved by talking to Gary about the issues affecting the club earlier in the year and offering to help. It was that simple really. I was able to offer something to the club and after a board meeting, I was invited to join. Helen Nixon and Colin Easton joined at around the same time.
It’s easy to get involved – speak to me, or email info@lowestofttownfc.co.uk Helen is always looking for volunteers to help with the fundraising activities. Ideally, tell us what skills you can offer to help the club; there’s bound to be an opportunity for the right skill set. It ideally needs to be a regular commitment but the best advice I can offer is not to over-commit yourself. My role fits perfectly into my work/ life balance and that’s important for everyone.”
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“Finally, I would like to thank everyone, from Directors, supporters, sponsors, players and volunteers for their support so far that everyone has given to me in this role. It makes the job a whole lot easier when we are all trying to achieve the same thing. The football has been excellent on the pitch and results have not reflected the commitment and effort put in by Jamie, Andy and the players. I hope that 2019 brings the results that the work and effort put in by the team deserve and “The Trawlerboys” continue to thrive over this, and future seasons.”

On behalf of everyone at Lowestoft Town FC I’d like to thank Mark for his continued dedication behind the scenes making sure the club runs effectively. I’d like to wish him a very successful 2019!

by Danny Cook