We are still be three months from our first game of the 2002/03 season.

But the planning is already underway to ensure you have a match night to remember each time you come and support the Brighton Bears.

This week I met with all the staff and volunteers who make our game presentations such a success and spelt out what we should be looking to achieve in the new season.

Let's get one thing straight to start with. The people who give up their time every home game to get the Bears show up and running do a great job and I have already gone on the record at brightonbears.com with my thanks for their efforts.

Now we are looking to upgrade the whole match night deal. Merchandising is an obvious area to start with. I believe we can offer a whole new range and quality of goods and we are already working on that.

We hope to do a basketball bonanza down in the foyer at the Brighton Centre before games. That will also involve merchandising and maybe an area for kids to get hold of a ball and take shots or something. We will certainly give them plenty to do. With our new voucher system, people tend to show up quite early for games. What we want to offer is a real pre-game atmosphere.

We will also review the match programme. I know this is something we can improve and I don't think anybody in the league has got it right.

Our whole game night package will be a be a totally different approach to the way things have been done. We sell our games as a night of entertainment for people and we need to give them more for their money. Things like the half-time shootout and face painting will continue, but again at a higher level.

We have not followed any bluepint for this. We are doing it our own special way, the way we want to do it.

Many of you will have read in the basketball press that Birmingham and Towers virtually had the two European spots allocated to England sewn up. You will also have read in The Argus more recently that we made our own bid just before deadline.

My feelings are that Towers deserve to go. The criteria for entry will be decided shortly and, if it comes down to playing records last season, we deserve to go ahead of Birmingham.You would not expect a team to gain qualification for the Champions League simply on the grounds of having staged European matches the previous season.

We are still keen to get involved but we are looking for help. Playing in Europe will be a big undertaking but it will also be a great way to promote the Bears, Brighton and Sussex in general. I expect to hear whether we have been successful early in July.

Last week I promised to bring you details of an exciting pre-season event. Unfortunately, I will have to keep that under wraps for now but hopefully you will learn more in the near future. I was ready to sign Todd Cauthorn from Sheffield this week. I made him an attractive offer to come to Brighton but I could not compete with what Chester were prepared to offer him.

I know some of you are keen to know whether our English guys will be back with us next season. Errol Seaman and Mark Jackson did a good job for us last season and are people we would like to bring back. I will talk with Mark in the next few days. I have had Errol in two of my teams and I like what he brings while Mark has experience at the point. Both of them are in my plans.

Go Bears