St Albans United is managed by a dedicated team of volunteers, each taking on key responsibilities to ensure the smooth running of the club. Our committee plays a vital role in maintaining our FA Accreditation, supporting our coaches, and delivering a high-quality football experience for all players.
🏆 Chairperson: Gordon Baisley
Gordon provides leadership and strategic direction for St Albans United. He ensures the club remains aligned with its core mission of providing accessible and inclusive grassroots football.
Gordon takes the lead on major initiatives that shape the future of the club. Recently, he has:
- Spearheaded the establishment of our League Section, ensuring a structured pathway for players to progress into competitive football.
- Negotiated a Licence Agreement with the council, securing long-term access to Victoria Playing Fields and The Brickie for club use.
- Led the FA Accreditation process, ensuring compliance with safeguarding, governance, and coaching requirements.
- Chairs committee meetings and ensures key decisions are documented and actioned.
- Acts as the club’s representative with external bodies, such as the Hertfordshire FA, local councils, and community partners.
- Supports the recruitment of volunteers, identifying gaps in club management and ensuring we have the right people in the right roles.
📋 Club Secretary: Kate Hanks
Kate plays a pivotal role in club operations, managing administration, communications, and member engagement.
- Oversees the club’s membership system, ensuring new player applications are processed smoothly.
- Supports team administrators, ensuring each year group has the administrative support required.
- Leads club communications, expanding the Club News section on the website and establishing a social media presence (as outlined in the club plan).
- Coordinates club meetings, taking minutes and ensuring agreed actions are followed up.
- Ensures St Albans United remains compliant with FA requirements, helping manage club records and governance documentation.
💰 Finance & Charity Transition
Co-Treasurers: Sean Trend and Alex Gubarev
Club-Shop Liaison (temporary): Gordon Baisley (Chairman)
With Mike Hillary stepping down, we’re reshaping the way St Albans United handles money as we convert to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO):
- Subscriptions & fees – will migrate to our Team Administrators for quicker, group-level handling.
- Wider banking access – the new Charity structure gives us access to a wider choice of bank accounts which will let us give several trusted volunteers view/pay permissions, reducing the “expenses and refunds” loop.
- Club-Shop orders – please make purchases yourself, but for any escalations or requests for new items, please contact Gordon.
Sean and Alex continue to:
- Lead the charity-conversion process & Gift Aid registration.
- Streamline financial planning, sponsorship and grant applications.
- Ensure our reporting meets charity-governance standards.
Questions? Contact Sean via the Coaches/Head-Coaches Signal groups, or email the Chair.
🛡️ Club Welfare Officer (CWOs): Chris Whalley
St Albans United’s safeguarding team ensures we provide a safe, supportive, and positive environment for all players.
- Ensures all coaches are DBS-checked, registered with the FA, and meet safeguarding requirements.
- Promotes safeguarding education, encouraging all volunteers to complete the FA’s Safeguarding Children and Introduction to First Aid training.
- Investigates and responds to welfare concerns, ensuring any issues are addressed promptly and appropriately.
- Maintains direct liaison with the FA’s safeguarding team, ensuring we meet their evolving requirements.
- As an ethics and compliance lawyer, Chris helps strengthen club governance and ensure we meet all FA and legal requirements.
- Ensures we have clear policies in place, covering safeguarding, equality, social media, and club conduct.
- Advises on risk management, ensuring St Albans United follows best practices for safeguarding and player welfare.
- Helps escalate and resolve any complaints related to safeguarding, poor conduct, or inappropriate behaviour.
💻 Webmaster: Nikita Shliakov
Nikita looks after the club website day to day, keeping information accurate for families and coaches and developing the site as the club grows.
- Keeps team, training and venue pages current through the season, including the annual age-group rollover.
- Publishes club news written by coaches and parents, keeping the author’s own voice.
- Maintains league, fixture and policy information so the site matches what the club is actually doing.
- Improves how the site is found and read, from page titles and descriptions to images and internal links.
🙋♂️ Want to Get Involved?
We’re always looking for new volunteers to strengthen our committee, expand club expertise, and help us grow. If you’re interested in supporting St Albans United, check out our introduction to volunteering here.