Glebe's £1.3m ground improvements start in March as chairman Rocky McMillan plans to change club name to Chislehurst Glebe as he leaves legacy before his retirement

GLEBE chairman Rocky McMillan has revealed building work on the club’s new £1.3m ground improvements will get underway at Foxbury Avenue on Monday 10 March.

 

The club have been given the go-ahead to install a new 3G artificial playing surface and a 350-seater stand within a 1,500 capacity stadium on the same site as the current pitch and the slope will be levelled off.

“It should be finished by the third week of June,” said Mr McMillan.

“The project is £1.3m. if we hadn’t started in March then the prices would’ve gone up and there would be no guarantee that we would get the same money from the Football Foundation, so my sincere thanks to the Football Foundation and the Premier League for their donation, as well as to the other sponsors including Chislehurst Society.

“The local council has been fantastic and also thanks to my residents. After months of listening to us they have realised what a great asset this is to the community and actually withdrew the Judicial Review that was registered in the High Court back last June.

“This season was always going to be very, very difficult because to get to where we are, we had to spend a lot of money on legal fees to make sure that we put a defence up against a Judicial Review and these things don’t come cheaply, so that has obviously taken its toll.

“The Southern Counties East Football League has been very good. We’ve moved a couple of fixtures forward and then we’ll be playing away on March 29^th.

“One of the reasons the London Football Association and The Football Association wanted it here was because it’s been looked at as one of the best locations.  You can get here north, south, east and west very, very easily, so geographically anyone can travel here.

“It means we’ll be able to push on to enhance girls’ and ladies’ football further. We’ll be able to enhance disability football, for those hard of learning, that haven’t got the facilities now and we’ll be able to give football to local schools on a 12-monthly basis or when they want it, especially during the winter when everything is postponed.

“I think as a club we’ve only had, I think, two full weekends out of the last 10 here, which is not so much the finances but you put so much effort during the week and on a Sunday I’ve got to come down here at seven o’clock in the morning and say ‘the games are off!’

“It’s just another new chapter in the club. I’m so pleased because when my wife Grace and I founded it 30 years ago – it seems like a lifetime away now – but I never dreamt we’ll have this.

“Now we’ve got well over 400 playing members. We can now be open to more people because we’ll have the facilities and the number of people that are asking if they can come up and groundshare or if they can use the facilities, it’s absolutely enormous!

“I think it will drive the club on to another level – not that we’ll be looking to be the be all and end all or anything  - but I just think it’s great through The Football Foundation, government and Premier League money that money is finding its way down to our level.”

Mr Millan insists “he always gets on well”  with Isthmian League Premier Division outfit Cray Wanderers, who have recently moved in to the facilities at nearby Flamingo Park and is keen to enlist their former CEO.

“I know Sam Wright’s left after 30-odd years there. I know Sam really well. In fact, I’ve reached out to Sam, I’m meeting with him this week,” revealed Mr McMillan.

“Hopefully he can come here on a short-term basis because I’d be crazy not to grab his experience with 30 years with Greenwich Council sport and his experience at Cray Wanderers.

“I know their chairman Gary Hillman and Micky Paye really well. I’ve never have a cross word really. They get on with their thing. They’re a couple of League’s higher; they’re doing really well.”

Mr McMillan revealed he is having a committee meeting in March to explore the possibility of a name change to represent the area the Foxes represent.

Glebe were held to a 1-1 draw by Rusthall on Tuesday night in the ninth-tier Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division. The game was attended by 92 people.

“You probably make about £500-£600 on the gate.  You’re paying £160 for the three match officials, you pay £60 for your electric, you pay the physio £60-£80, you pay for the food.  I had two groundsmen come in today to make sure the game was on, so you don’t make anything so that money has got to come from somewhere,” revealed McMillan.

And that is before you even think about paying the footballers’ wage bill, which is NOT covered by the gate receipts.

“We haven’t been so successful this year, the bar takings are down. From a business point of view, it shouldn’t come from individuals. It’s really got to come from sponsors' and it’s really up to the team to do well to encourage sponsors' to come into the club.

“We also have a system whereby all the juniors are made members’ so a family gets in on matchday for £2.50, which comes apart of the membership.

“Chislehurst is like a sleepy town. We’ve got a committee meeting on Monday week, especially now we’re getting the 3G.  I’ve got this name in my head which is ‘Chislehurst Glebe’.

“I would never drop the Glebe name because it’s what we founded the club as but I think if we’ve got aspirations of going up and also then we can call ourselves a real sports club and we ought to have the area in the name as it is in many leagues upwards from Step Four up.

“Also I think to wake up any potential sponsors in Chislehurst for a business point of view, giving us five, ten, fifteen grand in sponsorship money because I’m representing Chislehurst Glebe.

“We have to do our own work as well. From the beginning of March I’ve got somebody on board for six months to do marketing, a very professional marketing company to really boost us up because we’ve got people in the club who can do it but of course they’re all working.”

Glebe currently have 39 teams wearing their red and black kit and the new facilities will leave a legacy that McMillan will be proud off.

“I think it leaves a real legacy of what you’ve achieved.

“We’re going to try to create some relationship with the Chislehurst School next door because they’ve got a 3G pitch being built so we try to create a relationship with them.  We’ve got a very good relationship with the University Ground next door, where we play, so we’ve got some very good local relationships.  We’ve got great relationships with the Kent Football Association, the London Football Association and national Football Association. I think those relationships have been built over 30 years. You don’t get those relationships in a few months.

“What I need to do when Grace and I decide to stand back, which will happen, hopefully naturally, we will stand back and not like taken away. If we plan our exit then we’ve got people beneath us that can step up.

“I think realistically, I’m 68 next month, so I’ve done this 30 years and it’s a lot of your life but I’ve enjoyed it. I wouldn’t say I’ve enjoyed every minute but I’ve enjoyed every season and every season serves different challenges and challenges are there to be resolved.

“I know I’ve upset people over the years’ but every single decision I’ve ever made has always been in the interest of the football club. I don’t think anybody can doubt that. People know I’m passionate about the football club.

“Sometimes you have got to make decisions that aren’t universally met with glee but there’s absolutely nothing personal.”

When asked about retirement, Rocky revealed: “I would think 70 is a big landmark. I want to spend more time with kids. I think that’s natural. I want to spend more time with my granddaughters. I’ve got three granddaughters born in the last two years that I don’t see enough of that I’d like to see them more and more.

“I think a couple of years guiding the club with a 3G and then possibly it would be time. You don’t go from Z to A and just get out. I don’t think that’s possible but likewise if it is a time for someone to take over.  You’ve got to be there to assist. My name is on every lease that exists in the club so no one can get rid of me without me saying.

“But I think that we’ve got a situation whereby I wouldn’t want the club to go down anyway. I want the club to flourish even more under new ideas but like any business I think it would be foolish to waste 30 years of experience, 60 years with Grace, experience of different levels and different people and being able to answer to anybody, we’ve had that before this is what we do.”

Visit Glebe’s website: www.pitchero.com/clubs/glebefc/