DORCHESTER Town have appointed Scott Symes as their new chairman following the Magpies’ AGM on Wednesday evening.

Having been recently welcomed to the board of directors earlier this year, Symes succeeds outgoing chairman Matt Lucas after five years in the role.

In a statement, new chief Symes said: “I would firstly like to say a big thank you to Matt and all the existing board members for the tireless work they have carried out to bring the club to where we currently are.

“I personally am very much looking forward to becoming chairman here at Dorchester Town and working closely with everyone within the club to work progressively on our DTFC vision, culture and future business plan.

“Going into next season and beyond we will have a fully aligned DTFC community guiding the club both on and off the pitch that can continue to grow that vision and culture into 2019 and beyond.

“To ensure we can move on from where we are today, we need an aligned DTFC vision and financial plan that will give us success on and off the pitch.

“To achieve this we must ensure that as a community club we work smartly to maximise all our commercial income streams to get the right balance of those finances to Callum (Brooks, manager), his management team and players to bring enjoyable and successful times to The Clayson Stadium.

“We must do this in a way that will bring everybody within the DTFC community with us, with the ultimate aim of playing our football in the National League South, whilst maintaining a sustainable financial plan.

“Doing this with the right people aligned to our vision I know we can build a progressive positive culture amongst everybody in the DTFC community, the board, the playing squad, our employees, our volunteers, our football youth members and families, our ability counts programme and most importantly our supporters, which when we get it right, everyone involved can be proud to be a Magpie.”

Outgoing chairman Lucas said: “Personally I’m really pleased that Scott has made himself available to firstly join the board but also to take on the role of chairman. I feel that he has great attributes to help take the club forward and to work off the base that we have here at Dorchester Town.

“I wish him well and obviously give my support as a director to both Scott and to the club moving forwards. I feel that Scott will be able to develop the club, take it on and improve it in areas which perhaps I’m aware that I might not have been able to, so it’s a good change at the right time.

“I’m going to carry on working hard for the club but also to support Scott in his new role.

“I would just like to say a personal thank you to everybody who has supported me while I’ve been chairman, from all of the directors that I’ve worked with, all of the staff – both playing staff and non-playing staff – plus all of the volunteers who work so tirelessly for the club.”