Manager issues rallying cry to Ashford people - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Ashford Town’s joint-manager John Cumberbatch has issued a rallying cry to people who live in the expanding town - come and support your local team!, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Nuts & Bolts, who play four miles south of the town at the Homelands Stadium in Kingsnorth, have endured a torrid time in the past two years, finishing third from bottom twice but avoiding the drop on both occasions.

But Cumberbatch, who shares the managers role with chairman Tim Thorogood, revealed they’ll be operating on a lower budget than last season, but with more support this could increase.

But with gates under the 200 mark, no football club at Ryman League Division One South level can survive, and Cumberbatch urges local people to turn out in their droves to support their club.

“Our budget is, I was going to say it’s the same as last season - it’s slightly lower,” he said in an EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with www.kentishfootball.co.uk

“It’s slightly lower than it was last season but the only thing is it’s always propped up by the chairman, who, like me, wants success for the club.

“The budget isn’t great but at times when we need to pay a little bit of money for experienced players, that’s is normally found by the chairman’s generosity.

“But there is a limit to that and certainly some of the budgets being banded about, I really wish we can have that down here.

“Then we’ll have a squad we’d really like, but having said that, with the squad we’ve got we expect a much better season than the last one.”

Cumberbatch, however, knows a winning team on the pitch will attract the fans through the Homelands turnstiles.

He said: “The obvious thing is always winning. If the team’s winning fans want to stick by that team and if the team’s not doing too well then some of them aren’t going to come and support them or go elsewhere.

“You have to look at the World Cup and I didn’t see many Italy flags around until the semi-final and then certainly after the final I’ve never seen so many Italy flags especially in my road in Orpington.

“There was not one Italy flag up before that final but suddenly there’s flags all over the place.

“I think it’s one of those things with football that fans like to be associated with a team that’s winning.

“Sometimes they even prefer a winning team to a team that plays good football and the only thing we can do is we’ve got to start winning games or certainly do a lot better than we did last season.”

He added: “There are a lot of fans that come to the club regularly and you can’t just keep putting in performances where the team’s not winning, because there’s a limit how long they’ll suffer that.”

But Cumberbatch asks the local population to return to the club in their droves - starting with their first home league game of the season against Cray Wanderers on Tuesday, 22^nd August, and then against Molesey on Saturday, 26^th August.

“I checked before the beginning of last season because I felt the club’s fan base was low and I was told by the local council there’s something like a nucleus of 100,000 people living in Ashford,” said Cumberbatch.

“With that amount of people there should be a lot more people coming to this club, not just for the football, but all the other facilities that are here.

“I just feel certain things need to be done to be put in place to get start getting people in.

“There are some people around the town saying “they haven’t got a clue where the football club is” and some say the club is not quite in the town but outside.

“I think certain PR exercises need to be put in place to address that.

“I tried to get involved at the beginning of last season but due to various circumstances I didn’t continue with that.

“There needs to be various functions down here. I spoke about holding an open day at the club before the season starts where you’ve get various activities taking place like bouncy castles for the children, competitions like beat the goalkeeper and that sort of thing.

“All the players need to be there in tracksuits and available for the youngsters and the local community to come and meet them.”

Meanwhile, the Supporters Club AGM will take place in the Elite Bar on Saturday, 5^th August from 5pm - following the pre-season friendly against Ashford Town (Middlesex).

Any motions that members wish to put forward should be put in writing and addressed to Steve Monk (supporters club chairman) at the Homelands and arrive no later than Friday, 4^th August.

But motions from the floor may be accepted at the committees discretion.

Peter Young has successfully negotiated a couple of nice discounts for members, so not only do you get 10% off club shop products and entrance to some of the functions at Homelands, but now you can enjoy a 10% discount for a round of golf at Homelands Golf Centre, which is at the back of the football stadium.

This article is to entice people from Ashford to support their local football club, so please publish on the club’s website www.ashfordtownfc.co.uk and distributed around the local press.

www.kentishfootball.co.uk would like to assist the club in anyway we possibly can.