Today we welcome Salisbury to the Mangata Pay UK Stadium. May I wish their Directors, Manager, players and supporters an enjoyable stay with us and a safe journey home.
Well, a lot has happened on and off the pitch since my last programme notes against Dorking Wanderers and if I’m being honest, though it hurts me to say it, the two most recent defeats on top of the Weymouth loss did not necessarily surprise me but to surrender a title chance in just three weeks without too much of a fight has in all honesty shaken me.
I accept to lose Chris Bush and Femi Ilesanmi in recent weeks was a blow, to then lose Tom Whelan and Kwesi Appiah for the Maidstone United game of course didn’t help things either. That said, I’ve paid out an awful lot of money this season to allow a high-quality squad and backroom team to be put together for just those types of scenarios and in truth when they have been called upon in those big moments to date, they have been found wanting, they have not stood up to pressure as I expected and have come up short.
Our mindsets and our ambitions as such must now change and change quickly. We must firstly work harder to reverse what has been an alarming slide, we must secondly get over all or any title hangover, and thirdly we must re-focus on reaching the Play-offs and finding a bit of form in the process.
Hopefully with some of our injured players returning we can find a winning formula and a settled starting X1 to give us the highest league position possible to hopefully give ourselves home advantage in at least one game in the Play-offs, as that would give us a chance of success in what is a knockout cup competition where winner takes all, but first of all we must actually make the Play- offs.
My job, of course, during a season is mostly to pay the bills, pay the wages, and be responsible for oversight and governance. My passion though is to build the club both on and off the field and It’s certainly not to crumble, scream and shout or fall apart every time there’s a bit of a setback or when pressure comes calling.
As such, in recent months I’ve quietly been getting on with building a better tomorrow for this football club and our fans in the areas that I can affect during a season. Over the last three months I’ve tried to be empathetic, realistic and pragmatic in my thinking, as I look to support Luke, the changing room, my staff and our football club in the best way I can.
As such that has meant blocking out the noise at times, but importantly watching people’s true performance, attitudes and their outcomes with my own eyes. I say with my own eyes, as everyone likes to blow in my ear, talk about me, me, me and explain why they are not to blame, or nothing is their fault, as personal responsibility nowadays is almost a thing of the past.
That said, I always take personal responsibility for everything I do and for everything that happens here at this club from top to bottom. I have in the last 26 years almost built the stadium and facility from scratch, I have built it with care and in my own image.
I now try to run the club off the pitch in a bespoke way that best suits not only the club, but my partners, our sponsors, our town and our community. I try to dovetail the club and our academy, and I think over the years with me at the helm it has stood the test of time and stands up to close scrutiny, as we still have no historical debt, and we now have tried and tested work practices and staff who act, look and work smart.
On top of that we still have huge ambition and trust me we are not stopping now. Now is the time for us to stand together on the cobbles, to come out swinging and to wipe our mouths, I’m ready to go again next season whatever happens in the next month, and I hope you are?
It’s now time for the dressing room and its associated staff to come together, it’s about them rolling their sleeves up and it’s about them relaxing and performing, it’s about them looking forward, not backwards, for the remainder of this season and let me worry about what league we are in, as it’s me who has to deal with the finances and me who must plan this club’s short, mid and long term future.
With that in mind, I’ve done a lot of my normal in-season planning, I’ve created further investment and already secured Watford, Arsenal and Barnet, in what is already a very impressive home pre-season programme. For clarity, home pre-season games are an important component for us, as every bit of income derived from those games goes towards improving the first team budget and we will announce one or two further fixtures in the coming weeks.
With the end of season almost nigh and post season now almost upon us, it’s time for me to explain our spring and summer works in a little more detail, because despite record spending levels given over to the first team again this season, we are still playing fear football and not quite firing and so I’m having to re-balance spend for next season against income and it’s not pretty.
That said, our club is not only about the first team, and I have along with my accountants, commercial/finance team and my other companies, put the financials in place for another £500k plus of facility upgrades this spring and summer in readiness for next season whatever league we are in.
That investment, though expensive, is necessary, as it’s always about looking ahead, taking the club forward step by step and getting this football club future proofed and ready for when we do finally return to the National League and about getting ourselves ready for the EFL one day.
As such I will with my investment and my partners create a new control room in post season with multi stadium cameras for your safety and for our safety officer and his stewards to do their work more professionally in the years ahead as we hopefully climb back up the leagues.
Our summer Investment will include the building of a completely new safety fence line on the East Side of the ground. We will also improve our floodlights and lighting capacity and take our floodlights from a 500-lux reading to over 800-lux and beyond EFL requirements.
On top of the above we will move our home and away dug outs to the West Stand, while completing a new media, manager and players seating area within the West Stand, this will also allow our pitch to be slightly widened.
As an aside, for those who might think your voices are not always heard, I have listened to many of our supporters who at our recent Q and A, made it very clear to me that most of you wanted segregation for all of our home games next season. You stated you wanted ‘The Glass House’ and ‘The North Bank’ to be a safe space for home supporters and after a lot of thought on my part I’ve decided (at great financial loss) that your wants will be implemented but it will cost me up to £100k in lost wet sales from away fans over a three year period – that’s the reality of our supporters wants, needs and that decision.
However, for me to make that happen I felt I also needed to be fair to our visiting clubs and their supporters, as most of these clubs don’t have a problem welcoming our travelling fans and they do not segregate their stadiums at this level. As such, I will create a small away fan drinking area at the southeast corner of our ground, with the introduction of a bespoke bar, a small away fans zone and put in some bench seating, again at more expense. I think I’ve listened to our supporters and acted accordingly, but I felt we should also treat away fans as I would like the ‘Wood Army’ to be treated on their travels, and I think I’ve done that.
For clarity when we do move the home and away dug outs across to the West Stand and when we complete the East Stand fence line, it will allow us to widen our pitch and at the same time move it slightly toward the North Bank, which will ensure the runoffs are a tad safer for the players.
The above means I’ve not stood still for one minute this season and means I’ll have the summer from HELL overseeing these upgrades, as I have just 7 to 9 weeks dependant on the play offs to get these improvements completed if we are to be ready for July 8th and our first pre-season game.
On top of the above you’ll be pleased to know I’ve very importantly decided to continue my not inconsiderable investment in the first team and decided we will remain full time next season even though we might still be in a regional league. I have thought long and hard about this and believe if I’m to realise both my and your promotion ambition then we must remain full time for at least one more season. I’ve also decided to not only remain full time but to maintain a million pound plus dressing room budget, though I do accept we must freshen things up in more than just a few areas.
I’ve tried to be honest, realistic, unemotional and pragmatic with myself and my key staff in recent months and after discussing things in detail with your fans liaison officer Grant Morris, I’ve also decided to keep our season tickets and match day entry prices the same as this season, regardless of what division we end up in.
I am also going to purchase hundreds of our new first team match shirts for every under 20’s, 16’s and under 14’s who decide to purchase a season ticket before July 1st. The Under 5’s will again go free but with no admin fee and they will also receive a free gift from myself and the club.
Also, each season ticket purchase will enable the buyer to see two home pre-season games of their choice ‘free of charge’…. I want everyone to know that I acknowledge that this season (though not a complete disaster), has not gone quite like I envisaged and I’m sorry about that but that’s when I’m at my best because I’ll wipe my mouth, will work harder to try and right any wrongs and as I’ve told you all many times, “God loves a trier”.
When I look around the club, it’s clear to me that everything off the pitch points to the club being in its best shape ever and even after my facility and first team investment, we still operate with no historic debt as I deal with that, and I do not saddle our club with directors loans like some of my fellow chairmen and directors around non-league.
As such I see NO good reason for us to quit on our stools because things are a bit tough at the moment – I believe May will tell us where we are and by July/August we’ll know where we’re at, as the ground improvements will look amazing, the pitch will be in fantastic condition, the new signings would be bedding in and together WE MUST be ready to go again whatever league we are in.
Unlike some local chairmen, my ambition first and foremost is only about what sustainable success I can create that brings you success both on and off the field of play. Recruitment is of course vital and I have always believed that my staff, our facility and my ongoing stadium investment is vital if we are progress and should never be neglected or overlooked because as a football club we would stand still.
If we fail to look forward or if I fail to invest intelligently in all areas of our football club, then trust me we will make NO sustainable progress in the years ahead. We will end up with a tired looking stadium with very limited facilities like the one I inherited 26 years ago.
In truth, the club I inherited back then was literally falling apart and if we have not learnt lessons or fail to invest in our club’s infrastructure and future once again, then I believe within five years our facility and stadium will look like some of our other near neighbours’ stadiums who we have visited this season.
In my opinion some clubs lack true ambition, and some appear to be more bothered about selling a craft beer and a chicken wing than harnessing ambition, improving their football club, winning football matches or mounting a promotion challenge.
In truth, after so many years in the chair, the legacy I’m trying to build is not for me, its for you, your children, our grandchildren and for this town and our community. For me when I’m gone, I want you supporting a club you can be proud of, a club that has ambition and a purpose, but for me to be fulfilled I need a National League return, as I still dream of being an EFL club one day.
So as we enter the last month of our season, let’s deal with the setbacks together, let’s fight the good fight as our town always does, let’s acknowledge we’ve been poor of late but the Play-offs are still amazingly within our grasp, and if we can come together as a club, as a dressing room, as a support base and as a town, then I believe the Play-offs are still winnable and I’ve won two of them with a far poorer squad than this one, but it’s only winnable if we work hard, come together and become brave.
If we can show bravery and strength at the right time, if we can get some of our injured players off the treatment table, then we can still change our clubs’ destiny this season, but it’s a VERY BIG IF and it only happens through togetherness, strength and bravery.
Whoever you support let’s hope for an open attacking game and may the best team win.
Take care,
Danny.
