Football merger has been a winner

Hastings Town Youth 2000 amalgamated with the now defunct St Leonards Youth at the end of last season and the new-look United already boast 12 teams from under-7s right through to under-18s.

"Most definitely," was Jinks' reply to being asked if pleased with the decision to join forces. "It's moved along so quickly, I never envisaged it being this successful this quickly. Dave Walters (majority shareholder of Hastings United) has been an absolute joy to work with. He set up the work with Charlton Athletic and arranged for them to come down to do the community (coaching) day at the Pilot Field and we signed up a lot of children from that."

Commenting on the award, for which clubs must prove themselves compliant with FA best practice guidelines in order to be eligible, Jinks added: "Everybody has just been working so hard behind the scenes and the secretary (Peter Jenner) has been working hammer and tongs. It was most definitely a high priority of the club to get this award. If you set something up like this it just shows people in the area you're serious about the development of youth football."