Tonight, we welcome Farnborough to the Mangata Pay UK Stadium, Meadow Park. May I wish their Directors, Manager, players and supporters an enjoyable time with us and a safe journey home.
Well, our FA Cup run is now over for another year and boy did we give it a go once again, but came up short, going out on penalties.
Our fans in the main since I last wrote my programme notes for the Leyton Orient game, have been very supportive of what we are looking to achieve this season. It is also nice to report that our home ticket sales for the FA Cup game did pick up and I would like to thank you all for the noise and making the day such an occasion.
That said, for the first time in over 10 years, it feels like some of our newer supporters who have only ever known cup success, including a trip to Wembley Stadium, numerous Play-Offs, a trip to Goodison Park and National League football, are slowly deserting the club on a match day and returning back to their Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea, Watford, West Ham and other London club roots.
I might have to accept lower support levels for now, but I don’t have to like it. I also know though if I stick to the fight when I’m hardest hit, we’ll claw our way back, because club ambition and my future plans are still relevant and because my pockets are still not quite drained haha.
It means I’m ready to underwrite the losses in the club’s immediate future and ready to fight for my staff and my own self-respect in creating another promotion-winning dressing room. That said, if we cannot achieve promotion over the next two seasons, and if our support continues to dwindle, then I cannot keep throwing silly money at a black hole.
In real terms, if our crowd average remains 5th bottom in this division and if we do not keep our support levels above 800 over the next two seasons, then I will not keep my present investment levels to remain full-time in a part-time league while continuing to lose hundreds of thousands of pounds every season. In truth, it makes no economic sense for me to gamble with our football club’s financial future.
As such, I will turn my full attention and investment more to legacy and create a well-run and well-funded part-time club and look to complete our stadium build and new stand at the South End of the Stadium within the next three years.
We are in all honesty only strong after last season’s relegation because I underwrite the club’s losses, because of good governance, good fiscal management, because of your loyalty and because after more than 25 years we have created a very unique club, built on community, inclusion, family values, hard work and an underdog mentality.
Trust me, if we want our garden to grow again, we must be prepared to build a complete club and get our hands dirty again, while keeping our expectations realistic. I am as determined as ever to achieve EFL status for our supporters, my staff and for this town and community, but after last season’s relegation and our present league position, it might in truth take both patience and a bit more time than I’d originally hoped.
In my honest opinion, only three senior players this season have performed anywhere near the levels we could have expected, and I’m more than happy to name them in Tom Whelan, Erico Souza and, since fit, Kwesi Appiah……….but 3 from a 20-man squad simply does not win you enough football matches or a league title.
We also have four young players within our midst that we must nurture, care for and help, they are Charlie Clayden, Charlie O’Connell, Junior Dixon and Abdul Abdulmalik. They get a pass from me because they are young players who need help, patience and guidance from our senior backroom staff and senior players, but they must learn quickly.
If our squad and management are completely honest with themselves, they know we’re not remotely starting the second half of league games or ending the 90 minutes anywhere near strongly enough against predominantly part-time opposition, and whether we like it or not, we are now playing in a part-time league.
In midweek, we play against players who finish their full-time day jobs, then play or train in the evening while our players in the main have breakfast together, train full-time in the mornings four days a week, have Wednesdays off and rest during the day of a mid-week game and rest from 1 pm on a Friday before a weekend game. In my opinion, I have created a hard- working, proven, and honest non-league football club, which has over-achieved for many years.
We are I feel now being made mentally weak by some individuals and it’s those weak mindsets and those easy street work ethics, that might have won people plaudits in the past, but in all honesty, they have not achieved any success in their recent footballing lives.
For most of my adult working life, with my limited ability, I needed to work like a dog to create a home and platform for me and my family, much of that being as a single dad. I believe because I cared so much about my family, how I did my job, and because I had a fear of failure, that I forged an unexpectedly successful career within the British Film Industry as a Property Master and that honestly changed my life.
I knew I was a limited individual, but also knew I was very hardworking, a good organiser and knew if I put in the hours, worked to my film boss’s expectations, then I had a genuine chance to change my and my family’s life and only by doing that, did I also change my mindset and my views toward hard work.
At 62, after nearly 48 years of hard graft, I went on to create a successful film career, a multi-million-pound property portfolio, a successful sports and education programme, and have proudly transformed my local football club. In the years ahead, (as long as I have my health), this club will remain my priority and I will complete our Stadium build and return us to the National League and hopefully beyond.
When I reflect back on the mess, mismanagement and black hole I inherited here, I perhaps know how Rachel Reeves our new Chancellor of the Exchequer possibly feels. But when I look back at the tough decisions and huge efforts made by myself, my family, my staff and my partners. I’m in awe of what we’ve all achieved together.
As I sit here now, I’ve ensured this club does not have one penny of debt and everything you see built from top to bottom is all bought and paid for. After my recent meeting with the HBC Leader, Local Councillors and Officers last week, news on the Meadow Park, Brook Road Car Park and the South End of the Stadium build and plans, will I hope be shared with you all in the very near future…
The last 18 months on the field have unfortunately not gone remotely as I, nor you, would have hoped. In simple terms we competed and lost in a National League Play-off semi-final against Notts County, we then suffered a damaging last-day relegation and unfortunately for us all the hangover is still with us.
The FA Cup is now gone, we presently sit mid-table in the National South, and again that’s not where we want to be. As such, if our players and backroom staff genuinely want to be here, then they must become more resolute, focused, committed and act like full-time professionals playing in a part-time league.
They are all very good players and people, but they need to be prepared at the very least, to work hard, live the right life, keep themselves in shape and with their undoubted ability want to outthink, outrun and out fight part- time teams and in truth they should be winning more football matches.
At present that is not the case, and I think I’ve now been patient enough and listened to most of the excuses. Though I genuinely love and care for this dressing room, if they don’t become more consistent then I have to make some tough decisions if we are to mount and maintain a promotion push and title challenge this season.
This squad is capable of winning this league – but if we haven’t got the character, personality, attitude, discipline and desire to succeed for each other and ourselves, then we are all wasting our time. I hope tonight, especially after Sunday’s performance, that we see a reaction from the lads – but it must start tonight, and it must continue for the rest of the season. If it does, I believe we’ll win promotion, if it doesn’t, we’ll still be in this division next season.
Lastly, whoever you support let’s hope for an open attacking game and may the best team win.
Take care,
Danny
