STEVE Moore has been part of the furniture at Supermarine for 21 years. He has spent all but six of those years in the chairman’s hot seat. When Cliff Puffett stood down in April, Moore stepped into the breach again. Now, as he continues his search for Puffett’s long-term successor, Moore tells the Advertiser there are big changes afoot…

IT has been non-stop at Supermarine this summer as we build towards an exciting second season in the Southern League Premier Division.

But, as you are about to discover, we are now much more than a Southern League football club.

I probably think this level of football is right for this club for the next five years, but we need a stronger support base. We are clearly not going to get that just by advertising home games, so we must try to develop the club and grow it that way.

In an attempt to increase our visibility within the local community, we are looking to grow the club from the ground upwards.

We were hugely disappointed with our gates last season, and to try and counteract this we have decided to get a lot more people involved.

We will be running several youth teams this season, from under eights upwards, and have invited Penhill Allstars to become a ‘partner’ club.

We also have a couple of Sunday League sides who are going to come under the umbrella of the ‘Supermarine Group’.

Ladies and girls teams will feature at Hunts Copse for the first time in 2008/9, with the girls playing in the Gloucestershire League.

We have done this because to develop the club we realise there needs to be more diversity here, and that’s really exciting.

On the men’s front, we now have a reserve team to complement our senior side, and they will compete in the Hellenic League for the first time in eight years.

And some familiar faces will return to the club for our Veterans team, who again will compete in Hellenic League action.

I’m going to turn the clock back and be head coach of this team myself. I have just signed Mark Collier and Ian Howell, and maybe they will both learn a thing or two from my tactical nouse!

Hopefully this team will bring the crowds out and one or two smiles to everyone’s faces.

On the chairman’s front, I’m just holding the fort until we find someone permanent. We have spoken to two people about the role and actually made an offer to one of them, but sadly he concluded it wasn’t quite right for him.

Being a chairman at this level is quite a demanding role. It isn’t just about turning up at 3pm and sitting in the stand and watching.

We’re not going to rush into it because finding the right person is very important. We’ve got plenty of plans to push on with.

As long as I continue in the role, I want to have a laugh, enjoy it and try to get as many people through the gates as possible.