Billericay Town have shown their determination to keep pace with the big boys of the non-league soccer world by appointing a chief executive to run the club on a full-time basis.

Man taking over the task of moving the New Lodge club towards their eventual goal of membership of the Nationwide Conference is chairman Rod Moore.

Moore is to personally make a major investment into the club to completely clear the Ryman Premier Division outfit's financial liabilities.

He said: "I'm investing the future of myself and family in Billericay Town, but I'm happy to do it as I think this club has great times coming.

"The Committee of the club and myself think that this is the way forward. The days when football clubs only opened their stadiums once or twice a week and were left stagnant with doors locked for the rest of the time are in the past.

"Every aspect of the club needs to be maximised to its full effect and you need to have someone at the club organising things on a day to day basis.

"This club has always had very loyal and hard-working unpaid officials looking after the club's interests. They will continue their roles, but will not now have to try and do the 101 other things in the past that have come up and not really been their responsibility.

"It will be my job to try and maximise this club on a commercial basis and to explore every avenue possible to bring extra revenue in.

"This was the only way forward for this club. So many others at this level are currently in deep trouble trying to make ends meet, often staggering from one financial crisis to the next.

"We feel that, in Gary Calder, we have a manager capable of taking us giant steps forward on the footballing front, but to do that he's got to have the finances available to back him."

Over the past couple of years, with the financial help of "tenants" Chelmsford City, Town have made vast off the pitch improvements at New Lodge and Moore expects to see the whole ground up to Conference standards by the end of next season.

Club members have been told of the Committee's plans by letter and Moore added: "My financial investment into the club involved a large amount of money - certainly in five figures and well in excess of £10,000.

"However, I believe that this is the right way to go for the club."

Billericay are without a Ryman League Premier Division game tomorrow and return to action with an Essex Senior Cup semi-final at Purfleet on Wednesday.

New role - Billericay's newly appointed Chief Executive Rod Moore, pictured with soccer's top silverware

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