ONE of Basingstoke Town's most loyal and vocal fans has begun a new role in support of his beloved club.

Richard "Midgers" Midgley has taken over as the website administrator of Town's official site - www.btfc.co.uk - following Mike O'Neill's recent decision to step down.

Renowned for his Town songs and place with the banana alongside the "behind the goal boys" at matches home and away, Midgley started his new role last week.

He said: "I was approached by the club's vice-chairman, Steve Murfitt, at the last home game and he asked me about taking it on, initially until the end of the season.

"I was quite interested anyway because I knew Mike was stopping, so decided I would like to do it."

A Town supporter for 22 years, ever since he first went to a game aged five, Midgley added: "I'm hopeful that more people will log on and that we can encourage them to come down to the Camrose for games and to support the club.

"I'm also going to be working closely with the Friends of Basingstoke Town to advertise the Lucky 7 competition on the site and try to help sales."

The new role isn't Midgley's first experience of running Town's website.

He said: "I set up the first Town website back in the 1997/98 season when we had our first good FA Cup run and we were getting 500 hits a day.

"So, hopefully we can improve the site and make it a place the fans want to visit regularly.

"It's going to be a challenge because Mike did a very good job, but I'm looking forward to implementing a few ideas of my own."

Town fans will join us in wishing Midgers all the best in the role.