There's nothing to worry about, insists upbeat Langton

Wednesday 20th May 2009

HUGO LANGTON has tonight brought some cheer to the crestfallen supporters of Ashford Town, who are fearing the worst during a close season silence, writes Stephen McCartney.

Speculation about the club’s future has escalated during the close season, but assistant manager Langton told www.kentishfootball.co.uk that supporters of the Ryman League Division One South club have nothing to worry about.

Chairman Don Crosbie is “on the mend” following his recent heart attack and will make an announcement soon about the direction of the club before heading back to Homelands in time for next season.

And Langton, speaking instead of manager Steve Lovell, who is sunning himself in Portugal, says the pair will be at Homelands when the new season kick’s off again in August.

“What I can tell you is that things are moving along nicely, from what I understand there’s some plans in place,” he said.

“Basically all I’m trying to say, it’s well documented the players and staff haven’t been paid for a number of weeks, but the chairman’s not been well, he’s had a heart attack a while back, is that Steve is still the manager and I’m still the assistant and we want to stay at Ashford, the players want to stay and we want everything resolved so we can move on.”

Despite the present state of limbo, Langton insists players are happy to bide their time and wait for a positive outcome before jumping ship.

“One of the concerns you have when everyone’s in limbo is that players can chat to other clubs,” he warned.

“To be fair to every single one of the players they want to stay at Ashford. They’ve been a credit all along, they want to stay with the club but from their point of view they want some stability off the pitch.”

Looking ahead to next season, Langton said, “My job is to get Ashford Town promoted. There’s a strong air of positivity at the club now. The players love the club and the supporters and they’re a good group and want to stay together.

“As far as I’m concerned everything’s going to be sorted out and we’ll all be back together.”

When quizzed about Ashford Town playing Ryman League Division One South football again in August, Langton replied, “As far as I’m concerned, yes,” and he added, “we’ll be in the Ashford Town dugout unless we’re told otherwise.”

Having finished in a disappointing 7th place last season, Langton has high hopes for next season and the management pairing know exactly what they need next season.

“I think the group that we’ve got, they’re more than good enough,” insisted Langton.

“There was a period last season when we lost our way form wise and perhaps we didn’t have the depth we required.

“I’m not going to tell you who I’m going to speak to (but) things will happen more next week when Steve comes back from his holiday and the club will make an announcement in due course and we’ll sit down and see who we will keep and who we want to go out and sign.”

Forest Hill based Langton, who was watching an Orpington & Bromley Premier League game between FC Bickley and Centre Sports, gave a positive message to the loyal Homelands faithful.

He said: “My message to the supporters is that things are moving, we’re going to be there, we’re looking forward to it and we’ll have a right good go at it - let’s move forward together.”

Visit Ashford Town’s website: www.ashfordtownfc.co.uk