Kentish Football 
We need everybody signing from the same hymn sheet, says Warrilow
Tuesday 04th May 2010
ANGRY Tonbridge Angels boss Tommy Warrilow says the club has lost two of their players because of cyber and terrace abuse, writes Stephen McCartney.
Midfielder - and club captain - Anthony Storey and the versatile Jamie Cade has decided “enough is enough” and stormed out of Longmead Stadium at the weekend.
Warrilow met supporters in the Longmead Lounge following Saturday’s reserve team game against Wealdstone and told www.kentishfootball.co.uk tonight how sad he is that fans have forced out the pair.
“They just got fed up with the abuse they were getting - they didn’t need it,” blasted Warrilow.
“Anyone who was at the meeting after the game will see how it effected Anthony Storey because he was in tears walking out because he loves the club.
“There’s only so much you can take and the pair have been the brunt of abuse on the forum and at the ground and some of it was unfair and they said why should they turn up every week and that was at home!”
Warrilow has told the cyber bullies it’s time to face the music.
He said: “Some of the people posting the negative stuff were there at the reserve team game but didn’t have the character to show their faces to have a discussion and get the club to move on.
“I’m not doing it (meet the manager meetings) anymore! If they continue moaning they won’t have a football team down here.
“I think people know what I’m trying to say!
“Football is a game where you take some stick but some of the stuff that has gone on this year is over the top, out of order and wrong!
“Some people aren’t brave enough to talk face-to-face! They just go home and tap onto their computers!”
The Tonbridge Angels boss revealed who is staying at Longmead Stadium.
Lee Worgan (goalkeeper), Liam Harwood (defender), Sonny Miles (defender), Marc Cumberbatch (defender), Tom Bryant (defender), Scott Kinch (midfielder), Kirk Watts (winger) and striker Meshach Nugent have all committed themselves to the club.
“That’s where we are at the moment,” revealed Warrilow. “The rest are sort of considering other things and just didn’t want to commit, so it’s early days.
“I expect some not to which I’m disappointed with, but at the same time it’s a base to build on and they’ll be players floating around, well they’re floating about already.
“The phone’s already been ringing and I’ve got targets that I’ll be perusing over the summer to try and get us back to a squad to give it a go again next year.
“The only boys I’ve put on contract are Sonny Miles, Lee Worgan and Liam Harwood and we’ve got an option on Worgs.”
Last summer Warrilow had to pick up the pieces following a failed promotion bid - losing to Carshalton Athletic in the semi-finals of the Ryman Premier League play-off’s - and budget cuts that ripped his squad apart.
“This time last year there was nothing to start with then we sat down as the summer went on and then spoke more,” he reflected.
“We’re a lot more settled. We got ourselves in that situation from Christmas onwards where we had the bad weather and we addressed that so we’re on a stable footing for this year.
“We’ve got a budget we can sustain for the whole of the season at the moment and that’s what I’m working on. It’s the same (budget) what we finished with.
“It’s good enough to make a fist of it to have a go. I wouldn’t be here myself if I didn’t think we could get out of this league with it but obviously as it goes on it’s only going to get stronger. It’s not going to go down. The only way it can go us upwards when we get sponsorships coming in.
“We just want the fans to come through the turnstiles again. I’m not going to lie, it was a very hard year last year, a testing year. You learn from it and move on.
“We want a clean slate down there and everybody signing from the same hymn sheet. We all want one thing and that’s success for Tonbridge Angels and we have to be united in doing that.
“If we have bad games, don’t go over the top and be too cynical.”
Warrilow will once again be running with a small squad next season - but the emergence of youngsters will be the key.
“I’d like to say 18, but I don’t think it will be, it depends who turns up,” he said.
“I’ve got some money to work with. I’m not going to fly in at people and offer deals left, right and centre. There’s going to be a lot of people flying about this year but people will find out there’s no money flying about this year.
“I’ve got people I want to talk to and I’ll be doing that over the next couple of weeks. I’d like a squad of 16-18 and then we’ve got the youngsters like Liam Baker who has benefited from last year.
“Sonny Miles has come in and has more than held his own and it’s important he builds on that.
“There could be another one next year and that’s what you want coming out from the reserves.”
The Angels missed out on the Ryman Premier League play-off’s again finishing in 8th place - losing away to Wealdstone on the penultimate league game was hard to take - and Warrilow wants to get over that white line next season.
He said: “The initial aim is to get into the play-off’s but ideally I’m not going to sit here and say we can win it and do this and do that. I want to see who I’ve got at the club, what players I’ve got.
“We want to get out of the league, that’s what any club wants and that’s what you want to say to the players.
“Ever since I’ve been here we’ve been there or there abouts. My targets will always be the same, but we’ve got to see what players I’ve got coming down for pre-season (Saturday 3 July) and once we start that we’ll start to talk about what we can achieve.”
Visit Tonbridge Angels’ websites: www.tonbridgeangels.co.uk & www.tonbridgeafc.co.uk/forum
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