Holmesdale need a sugar daddy to progress further, says coach Grant Watts

Friday 11th March 2011

GRANT WATTS says he ended his five-year exile from football thanks to the constant phone calls from Holmesdale manager Gary Davies, writes Stephen McCartney.

Croydon born Watts, 37, took up the unpaid coaching role at the Bromley based Kent League club after watching Erith & Belvedere play earlier in the season, where former Palace team-mate Simon Osborn is on the coaching staff.

Watts, who’s younger brother Kirk turns out in the Kent League for Erith & Belvedere, famously scored on his Crystal Palace debut in a Coca-Cola (League) Cup tie at Liverpool and then in the quarter-final win over Chelsea at Selhurst Park in January 1993.

But a broken leg put paid to a promising career at Selhurst Park and he only played a further two games for the Eagles, before making 12 appearances for Colchester United and playing three games for Gillingham in 1994, before dropping down to non-league football, playing for the likes of Sutton United, Welling United, Banstead Athletic, Egham Town, Croydon and Bromley.

“I wasn’t really interested coming back into football, it came out by chance,” said a reflective Watts.

“I went to watch a game at the beginning of the season at Erith & Belvedere, Micky Collins and Ozzie (Osborn) are friends of mine and Gary (Davies) said, ‘what are you doing?’ and I said ‘nothing!’. He said ‘get involved’ and I said ‘no!’ and then he phoned me up and he pestered me for about six weeks and I said ‘I’m not interested! I don’t want to do it!’ after being at Bromley and Croydon and he kept going on, on and on - and I got involved.

“He twisted my arm and I got involved and I’ve really enjoyed it!”

Watts added: “I did miss it. I spent five years out. I’ve got my own business - I’m a builder - and it’s going really well. I’m really, really busy, I’ve got a lot of work on and it does take a lot of my time up but we’re local, it’s only one day a week training, which helps.

“I’m really enjoying it down here, a lovely bunch of people and I just hope we can finish as high as possible.”

Watts spoke about life at the Kent League club, based at a modest ground at Oakley Road, Bromley.

“You never get an easy game against us and the players are great there,” he said.

“They’re not getting paid a penny and they all work hard at training, you get 20-22 people training every week and they enjoy playing football.

“Hopefully we can kick on now and collect some points in the league and finish mid-table and we’ll prepare ourselves for next year and hopefully we can achieve more next season and make the club a better, stronger, financially.

“We’re trying to get a youth tam, a stronger reserve team. It’s just about trying to grow the club and make it a decent non-league club that people want to enjoy playing against. It’s a friendly club, everybody’s pulling in the right direction but it is difficult.”

Chairman Mark Harris has recently revealed the club’s plans to improve spectator comfort at Oakley Road, with the installation of a new stand, a similar structure to the ones at Sevenoaks Town, Thamesmead Town and VCD Athletic, for example.

Watts admitted it’s difficult to compete with Bromley (Blue Square Bet South) and Cray Wanderers (Ryman Premier League), who play around the corner at Hayes Lane.

“Bromley’s in a different league to us, obviously I know (owner) Jerry Dolke and everyone connected to that club. They’re on a different wavelength. They’re in a different world.

“We have to look at ourselves and see what we can do to bring in money. Obviously we’ve got Greenwich Borough (groundsharing) there and hopefully they’ll stay next year and that puts a bit of money into the club and renovate the club.”

Watts added: “Can we get some kind of Football Foundation grant to make the clubhouse more appealing for people to hire out? Can we get a five-a-side Astroturf (pitch) by the side of the pitch there to generate income? If we could do that maybe wee can start to have a win bonus and start paying some players.

“But until you do that, it comes down to money. With the climate we’re all in, it’s very difficult to generate that kind of money. We’re not talking hundreds and hundreds here, we’re talking tens of thousands. If someone said there’s £100,000 it doesn’t go far, let me tell you that! By the time you build a stand and renovate a little bit of the clubhouse, it’s gone!

“You need a sugar daddy with a lot of money and unfortunately there’s not many people about.”

With Holmesdale presently second-from-bottom in the Kent League, with four wins and seven draws from 20 games, only four points clear of a vastly-improved Sporting Bengal United, Watts wants to guide the team higher up the table in their last ten games.

The Dalers were knocked out of the Kent Senior Trophy at the semi-final stage by Tunbridge Wells last weekend. Martin Larkin’s side grabbed an injury time goal by Keelan Mooney to deny Holmesdale their first ever final as a Kent League outfit.

“Hopefully we can kick on now and collect some points in the league and finish mid-table and we’ll prepare ourselves pre-season for next year,” said Watts.

“The Kent League is a hard league to play in. Teams that do go up do quite well in the Ryman South.

“It just needs to get another five or six teams in there because there’s not enough games and that’s the hardest thing. There’s not enough teams in the league and we haven’t got a game on Saturday and it’s ridiculous.”

Visit Holmesdale’s website: www.holmesdalefc.co.uk