You’ll notice that we’re in slightly different surroundings for this week’s edition of my column.

Since my last set of notes we’ve moved over to a brand-new, and I hope you’ll agree improved, Northumberland FA website. We hope that this easy-to-use site will allow players, coaches, referees, volunteers and club representatives in Northumberland to get closer to all of the latest grassroots news and developments that matter most to them – and the positive feedback we’ve received already indicates this will be the case.

There’s plenty of exciting news to get through this week, and I’d like to start with information about our new Coach Development Programme, which is set to launch this year. We’re always looking to raise coaching standards in our county, and this new initiatives will help us do just that, by offering a programme of free mentoring, CPD Events, networking and more.

The early response to this Programme has been excellent and I strongly urge you to complete the application form before it’s too late, as only 20 coaches can be selected. Please CLICK HERE for details.

I’d also like to remind our county’s referees that they have until Monday 12 February to request for promotion during the 2018/19 season. Once all applications have been received, we’ll be hosting a Promotion Seminar and Promotion Fitness Assessment at Whitley Park – details of which can be found by CLICKING HERE. If you have any referee-related queries, feel free to contact our Referee Development Officer on Lindsey.Robinson@NorthumberlandFA.com or 0191 2700 700 (2).

Enjoy the rest of your week.

John.

To keep up with our latest news via social media, please follow @NorthumFA on Twitter, or like Northumberland FA on Facebook.

You can also follow John personally on Twitter by connecting to @NFACEO