JEFF Rea has been appointed Bromsgrove Sporting’s acting chairman following the sudden death of Jon Prescott.
An emergency board meeting was held on Tuesday evening after the shock death of Mr Prescott to decipher who would take charge of his responsibilities.
The club are holding a further AGM this Autumn to decide who will take up the permanent role of chairman.
John Teece will be responsible for the administration arrangements with Worcester City Football Club on ground-sharing at the Victoria Ground.
Rob McLaren will be the main lead on stadium safety and maintenance ensuring compliance in readiness for the forthcoming season.
David Stephens, Sporting’s secretary, will liaise on matters with Worcestershire County FA, in particular the arrangements for the Worcestershire Senior Cup Final to be played at the Victoria Ground on Saturday, July 23.
David Sheppard and Graham Scott will be responsible for maintaining the pitch and line-marking.
All commercial matters and responsibility for the social club will be with John Teece while all directors will share responsibility for managing and organising players’ kit until a kit manager can be appointed.
TRIBUTES
TRIBUTES have been paid to Bromsgrove Sporting chairman Jon Prescott after he suddenly passed away earlier this week.
Mr Prescott, 69, was found dead at his home on Tuesday morning with club secretary David Stephens confirming the sad news on social networking site Twitter.
Having previously been a director at Worcester City and a key member of Bromsgrove Rovers, Mr Prescott was an influential figure in setting up phoenix club Sporting in 2010.
He gained himself an impressive reputation as a groundsman where he put plenty of time and effort into the playing surface at the Victoria Ground, making it one of the best pitches in the region and Midland Football League.
Mr Prescott replaced John Teece as chairman last season and continued to be a spearhead at the club before his sudden death.
Sporting’s communications director Phil Baker said: “I have known Jon for a very long time, even before Bromsgrove Sporting was formed.
“Jon put a lot of effort into Worcester City and they reaped the benefits from his expertise and when he helped form Sporting, everything he has given to the club is immeasurable.
“What he did behind the scenes was fabulous and his practical knowledge of how to maintain the pitch and playing surface has benefited Sporting greatly.
“It will be very difficult to replace him.”
Sporting’s first team manager Paul Smith, who joined the club in 2014, also paid tribute to Prescott and told the Standard the news of his passing was hard to take.
“It was only on Monday I was having an email conversation with him so to wake up the next day and find out he passed away is just awful news,” he said.
“It was completely unexpected and my thoughts go out to all his family and everybody at Sporting is deeply upset by the news.
“Jon was a very witty man and had a dry character and some people could understand his humour and some couldn’t, but those that did found him very funny.
“He was a very nice gentleman and never did me any harm and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with him.”
Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid also took to Twitter to share his condolences with Sporting.
He wrote: “Very saddened to hear Sporting chairman Jon Prescott has died. My thoughts with his many friends and family. RIP.”
