Resurgent club strives for new 25-year lease - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS
Stephen McCartney, Editor, reports from Harrow Meadow

The chairman of resurgent Kent League club Greenwich Borough is striving towards a new 25-year lease and support from it's local council.

Famous actor Tamer Hassan has been fighting to get Greenwich Council on their side for the past ten years.

But he hopes the Eltham based club’s newly formed committee, who have made the club more professional, will enable them to get support from the local community it serves - and the council.

The club is spending around £4,000 to improve it’s Harrow Meadow ground, but Mr Hassan would like the security of a new lease. The current lease runs out in five years time.

“We are not going to sit back and let them take the ground. We’ve spent fortunes in legal fees but the council aren’t with us.

“I don’t know why their not with us and I’ve said it before if their that adamant in taking this place I want to be facilitated with exactly the same facilities plus more.”

The club are in the process of improving their facilities but Mr Hassan admits the club are on land which is worth a lot of money.

He said: “They’ve been threatening to take it off us for years. We’ve been fighting and fighting and we’re not gong to stop.

“There’s a lot of open land and space in the borough of Greenwich that they can facilitate us with. If they want to take this place of us we are going to stand up and fight and not let them take it.

“We are going to improve the facilities. We are going to spend money and improve the facilities as much as we can. As if we’ve got a lease and as if we own the place. We are going to treat it as ours.

“We’ll even buy it off them but their asking silly money. They were talking £7.5m at one stage. It’s not worth that amount.

Fans at other Kent League clubs have always complained about the poor facilities at the ground. But Mr Hassan explained their situation.

“I had problems building the two stands a few years ago,” he recalled. “The council gave us planning permission to put them up but at the moment because they want to take the ground back their not going to give us planning permission (to improve the ground).

“So if you want to spend £100,000 on stands and spectator facilities and then they ask us to rip it down, we will think it’s criminal and a waste of money. But if they give us permission we’ll spend the money.”

Mr Hassan asks his local authority to support grass roots football instead of their Premiership neighbours.

You have to remember that Greenwich Borough gave former Crystal Palace, Arsenal, West Ham United and England striker Ian Wright his first break in the game.

“My message to Greenwich Council and the local people we represent is support us,” he said.

“If they come here and support the club that gives us a hell of a lot of power against the council, who support Charlton Athletic more.”

The club now has a stable base, including director Terry Gamage, secretary Barry Feist and coaches that have coached at Kent League level.

Mr Hassan said: “The club’s actually had a lease of life having Terry coming here. He’s got the same enthusiasm I had ten years ago.

“He’s come here full of energy and he’s a football man. He likes football from five-year-old’s right up to senior.

“He wants to bring in academies and wants to bring the community together and keeping the club open pub hours and keeping it running and functioning all the time.

“He’s bringing everyone together so for me he’s a God send and for Greenwich Borough he’s a God send because of his energy and attitude.”

The chairman did admit the club has “deteriorated” over the years.

“With my acting career I can’t be here as much (as I want to). So with me being away and leaving it in the hands of other people things did tend to deteriorate.

“But with Terry here he’ll make sure nothing falls down.”

The club, meanwhile, try to do their bit for their local community, providing youth football and a boxing club.

And the club feel it’s important to improve it’s facilities to entice people to watch the team in action.

“The money we raise for charities and the community is unsurpassed - it’s endless what we do here,” said Mr Hasssan.

“But for the council not to support us, and we don’t ask them for no money, we just want them to back us.

“We want a 25-year lease,” he insisted. “Without a 25-year lease we can’t get a lottery or council grant - we can’t do anything.

“The council are doing everything in their power to bring us down but we are going to stand and fight as much as we can.”

Back on the pitch, around 50 players were put through their paces by the club’s newly appointed coaching staff last night.

Manager Chris Cosgrove, 42, from the Sundridge Park area of Bromley, was pleased with his new coaches - former Slade Green joint-manager Phil Miles and former Erith & Belvedere coach Ray Bagnall.

Cosgrove, and his new assistant Gary Davies, whose now in his second spell at the club, and has also managed or coached Fisher Athletic, Beckenham Town and Sevenoaks Town, are looking to improve on their position last season, when they finished in the bottom four.

The club have already made two summer signings, bringing in former Sevenoaks Town defender Dave Walters, and ex-Dartford, Ashford Town and Sittingbourne striker Dave Hassett from rivals Tunbridge Wells.

The chairman’s aims for the new season. “Silverware,” was his response. He added: “We didn’t do too well in the league last year and we want to do better.

“Winning it is a little bit premature for us because we don’t know what we’ve got but our aims are silverware and put the glory back in Greenwich Borough.

The manager, meanwhile, explained the problems he endured this time last year.

Cosgrove was putting his hand in his pocket to keep the team running, had no kits, a team full of Sunday League players and no future.

But a good string of results towards the end of the season made sure the Eltham Green Road outfit finished fourth from bottom in the Kent League.

Cosgrove, though, is aiming a lot higher this time out, especially with the club’s new professional attitude.

He recalled: “At the beginning of the season we were a Sunday side. No players. Basically we turned it around from being a Sunday side, completely useless to being out of the bottom three, which I think is an amazing achievement.

“We had no money, no players, no kit, no pre-season friendlies or training. Basically nothing!

“This time last year we weren’t even thinking about pre-season friendlies.”

But it’s all different this year and the club have so far arranged seven warm up matches, including home games against Carshalton Athletic and Tonbridge Angels - albeit probably reserve sides. But the Angels have one of the best reserve sides in Kent.

However, it’s a lot better this season. “We’re starting in a level pegging with the others,” he said. “I’ve got proper players, coaches, assistants around me.

“We’ve got over 50 players for our first training session and out of these 25 of them are all Kent League circuit players.”

But current Whitstable Town striker Andy Constable rejected a move to the club.

Cosgrove explained why the former Bromley and Sevenoaks Town prolific striker turned him down.

“It was touch and go but we missed out on him,” he said. “He’s stayed at Whitstable but he nearly came to us.

“Five teams wanted him and he came back to two of us twice, which shows our ambition.”

When asked why Kent League standard players are joining the club this summer when they wouldn’t last term, Cosgrove said: “Because they can see the change. They can see the organisation, top coaches and we’re turning it into a proper football club again.”

Saturday 15^th July (a) Holmesdale
Saturday 22^nd July (H) Carshalton Athletic
Thursday 27^th July (a) Old Roan
Saturday 29^th July (a) Wick
Tuesday 1^st August (a) Coulsdon Town
Thursday 3^rd August (H) Tonbridge Angels
Saturday 5^th August (a) Bly Spartans

Visit Greenwich Borough's website: 

www.web-teams.co.uk/home.asp?team=greenwichboroughfc

At least £4,000 spent on ground improvements

Pitch reseeded

Improved floodlighting

The club will have one turnstile operating, which they purchased from Millwall FC

Scrubbed off graffiti from buildings

To Install wooden seating in stands.

To build a covered shelter in front of the clubhouse to enable fans to watch the action, looking over the cut hedge behind one of the goals

More seating in both dug-outs

Changing rooms decorated with showers re-tiled

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