How Bedford Park Rangers Embraced Digitalisation

Published Friday 20 October 2023; revised 2 July 2025

Bedford Park Rangers want to grow their teams, not their to-do list. Having expanded to over thirty teams over recent years, Chairman Jay Allison believes the clearest route to smooth growth is digitalisation. Learn how Jay and the team at Bedford Park Rangers have fueled their growth with a collection of time-saving apps, and put player experience at the heart of their transformation.

A club set on growth

Jay joined Bedford Park Rangers as an enthusiastic parent. At the time, there were just 12 teams, but the club grew rapidly – so rapidly that committee members often found themselves wearing multiple hats: coach, treasurer, and welfare officer.

“The key thing that stood out to me at that point was the financial aspect of running a small club,” Jay recalls. “Ultimately, you’re dealing with public money. So you’ve got to be diligent about it.”

Fast forward to now, and the club is home to 35 teams. This growth was also reflected in the workload. The more games that were played, the more admin there was to deal with.

“Throughout the process, one thing we were really mindful of was processing data and money,” Jay explains. “Back in the day, you’d have a paper sign-in sheet and you’d collect physical cheques or cash. That’s a lot of pressure for the person collecting it.”

“You’re taking a significant amount of money from players and getting it to the treasurer without banking it,” Jay recalls. “I thought, there’s got to be a better way of doing this.”

But finance wasn’t the only concern. Jay and the team needed to make volunteering more attractive so that they had enough support to sustain their growth. “I lost a coach at the beginning of the season,” Jay says. “He said to me, ‘Look, I’ve got too much going on in my life. I haven’t got the bandwidth to deal with it.’ The key message that came through was that he wasn’t finding enjoyment because of the processes. That became one of my major focuses: how do I keep volunteers engaged?”

Bedford Park Rangers had a whole host of challenges to contend with that centred around one theme: grow the club, but not the workload. Jay realised that modern software solutions and systems could help alleviate the strain.

One phase at a time

Jay joined Xero as an account manager. On learning about some of Xero’s payment solutions, he decided to set up Spond and use the Stripe integration, which enables the club to set up direct debits to automatically collect recurring payments as soon as they're due.

“Since then, we haven’t looked back,” Jay reflects. “The reporting functionality in GoCardless gives us full visibility over payments,” Jay says. “You can see what you’ve been paid, what’s due to come in, and what’s due later on.”

Alongside Spond and Stripe, Bedford Park Rangers also adopted Zettle for on-the-spot card transactions. “We started ‘mini rangers’ sessions which are geared towards five year olds,” Jay explains. “It’s pay as you go, and the sessions cost £3. We didn’t want to deal with lots of coins, so we opted for two Zettle card readers. Our coaches just connect their smartphones and they’re ready to take payments.”

Jay and the team have maintained a slow-and-steady approach to tech adoption. Jay notes that transitioning to new tools can feel overwhelming if done too quickly, and recognises the importance of bringing staff, players and parents along with you.

“Our club has 45 years of history. We’ve got children whose grandparents played for the club. So we’re trying to create a user-friendly end-to-end seamless process.”

Jay’s approach links neatly back to the club mantra of an ‘enhanced and enriched experience’. By designing with players, parents and staff in mind, the club adopts technology solutions that deliver tangible impact for the club.

“The mantra isn’t just for the kids, but also for the parents,” Jay explains. “They’re not going to do something that’s laborious or takes up a lot of time. It’s got to be easy.”

Throughout the process, Bedford Park Rangers have focused on easing the burden for parents, players and the people paying – designing with them in mind. But according to Jay, there’s still a lot of work to do in the grassroots football community.

Jay and the team are committed to checking in with parents and players to make sure their digitalisation journey is moving at the right pace. For clubs concerned about overwhelming parents and players, keeping an ear to the ground is essential.

“Three of our committee members are still active coaches,” Jay explains. “Two of us have children who play at the club. So we see the impact of the things we do from both sides, and think about what kind of experience we would want to interact with.”

Removing barriers to football

With a stack of apps and platforms already easing the administrative burden, the next stage for Bedford Park Rangers was to forecast their finances in Xero. Like many grassroots teams, cash flow is always front of mind.

“We’re lucky to have a solid financial base,” Jay reflects. “But it’s not uncommon for grassroots clubs to operate in the red. Some owe money to their local councils for pitch hire, and they aren’t able to forecast when they can pay it back. With Xero, we’re able to see exactly how much money we have coming in and what we can spend.”

Jay goes on to explain how these cash flow challenges can trickle down and impact players. Coaches and team members carry the stress of unpaid bills and unclear cash flow positions with them to training. Players could also find themselves using sub-par equipment due to a lack of financial foresight. Jay’s ambition is to pass cash flow clarity onto his wider team, so they can make financial decisions backed by the numbers.

“Let’s say a coach wanted to buy jackets for their team. They can’t commit to that until they speak with the treasurer about our cash position. But with Xero properly integrated, I can give the team instant visibility over the account. If a coach wants to know what they have available, I can say: here’s what’s in your team pot.”

Cash flow projections in Xero are customisable, so you can see what’s coming up in a few weeks or a few months’ time. This translates well to the grassroots world, where clubs need to know what they can spend today, and for the rest of the season.

Helpful integrations like Hubdoc mean coaches and staff can submit their expenses on the go, and statements can be reconciled in real-time. Clubs get a more accurate and up-to-date view of their finances without having to do the sums themselves.

“The final frontier would be for us to use Hubdoc,” Jay says. “So a coach can buy something, photograph the receipt, upload it straight to Xero, and my treasurer sees it straight away. From there, we can allocate it to their team balance, invoice them, and pay them. That’s where I want to get to.”

Because attracting and maintaining volunteer talent is crucial for grassroots clubs, eliminating friction and removing barriers to football is an ongoing task at Bedford Park Rangers, and Jay sees software playing a fundamental role.

“When technology is implemented well, it makes everything easy,” Jay says. “Today, I have everything on my laptop. I can pull a report in a few seconds, rather than going to an office and thinking, ‘Where did I file this paperwork?’ or searching through a spreadsheet. If volunteers see that you’re struggling with admin or finding it boring, why would they want to do it themselves?” Bedford Park Rangers’ digital transformation means the club has more to offer players and volunteers.

“Our USP (unique selling point) before was that we were small and tight-knit. Now we’re thinking about how we keep that feeling but bring in another USP: we’re affordable, we’re efficient, you get value, and our fees are low. You just go online, fill out our form, set up a direct debit, and you’re good to go.”

Looking for more resources to help you run a financially healthy club whilst keeping your workload manageable? Check out our guides and articles on how to manage your football club.