Coney Hall chairman confident about League switch - EXCLUSIVE

Coney Hall chairman Joe Farrugia believes his club switching across from the Combined Counties League into the British Energy Kent County League next season will benefit all parties, writes Stephen McCartney.

Mr Farrugia is confident that he’ll get his wish at the League meeting on 12^th June, and insists the move across the football pyramid will be a positive step.

And he explained EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk tonight why the Tiepigs Lane club want to switch League’s.

“For a couple of reasons really,” he said. “One is the fact that the Combined Counties, (is a) great League, but the travelling has become quite onerous for our players.

“It’s all west for us and we have to go as far out as Guildford and Reading - and further afield.

“And although within the Kent sort of area, the travelling’s quite as far, there’s links to the motorways - it’s easier for us.”

“With the FA ground grading that comes into 2008, division one teams in the Combined Counties need floodlights.”

Mr Farrugia explained that erecting floodlights at their ground in Hayes, are a long way off.

He said: “Well, we haven’t applied for planning permission yet, because we’re only just recovering from the major works that Thames Water carried out, so our development plans have been put behind.

“They built a 50m tank underground, which has caused them to move our pitch, and they took about a third of our ground up for their compound.

“They did give us a small payment for the disruption - yes it was a set-back.”

But he believes the club will be elected into the British Energy Kent County League

premier division next season - a division below the Kent League.

“I think it’s their premier division, the way I understand it,” he said.

“We’ve been accepted by the League committee but now we just need to be elected by the members.”

Mr Farrugia asks premier division clubs to welcome Coney Hall with open arms, as they play good football.

“Our record in the Combined Counties has been pretty good,” he explained. “The standard of football the club plays has always been excellent and I think it will help strengthen the Kent (County) League.

And the club staged it’s most successful Fun Day at Tiepigs Lane yesterday.

“It was the best fun day ever. We had well over 3,000 people on the ground, just under fifty teams competing, ages seven to eleven,” said Mr Farrugia.

“We had the Mayor there and she felt the community spirit in the ground, visiting clubs commented saying it was the best tournament in the south east - the standard was excellent all round.”

The chairman feels Kevin Imber is the man to change around the club’s fortunes on the pitch.

“The other thing I’d like to say, after a shaky start losing two managers in quick succession, Kevin Imber has stepped up to the bar from reserve team managers job and really settled the team and we had a terrific run-in.

“I think he took between 25 out of 33 points - we’re building on that.”

He added: “We’ve got a couple of local derbies but the Kent (County) League offers us now a lot of local derbies.

“At the Warlingham home game last Thursday, we had over 140.

“It’s hard to ask supporters to go over to Reading, Oxford and Portsmouth, wherever.”

Visit Coney Hall's website:  www.coneyhallfc.co.uk