NO TIME TO GAMBLE

Published in the National League South game v Bath City on Saturday 31^st October 2020. We won 2-1 with another last minute goal

Plenty of people have said I need to be put in a darkened room for supporting Slough Town, and here I was watching in my office with a torch as a floodlight, shouting at my computer screen as Slough let their first half dominance come to nothing and finally lose 1-0 to today’s opponents.

I’m not sure we could have been dealt with harder FA Cup ties but I was half worried we would reach the Third Round for the first time ever and not be allowed to watch. While I’m grateful that the streaming is happening, it isn’t for me.

Still who needs the FA Cup when you win the lottery. In our case, £30,000 a month for the next three months to cover our lost gate revenue.

I must say as someone who runs a small charity that is always scrabbling round for pennies, I was somewhat surprised that the £10 million allocated to the National League came from the Lottery. I get that football clubs play an important part in their communities and run properly do a lot of good but with so many charities on the brink or struggling with increased demand, I'm not sure its the right pot of gold to come to our rescue.

More frustrating is the fact that I don’t think we need the money in the first place. Would it really take too much imagination to at least let National League North and South clubs have limited crowds? Please can someone explain to me why we can’t play in front of fans especially when so many other teams are allowed to play at Arbour Park?

This had even more poignancy with the passing of Clive Bailey, long term supporter and father of Mark, our community manager. These are exactly the times we need to be on the terraces supporting our mates.

After hearing government ministers saying that it would be allocated according to average attendances, it was teams in the National League who got the lions share no matter if they get 5,000 or 500 a game. While officials should have told everyone how they decided on the formula, instead they stayed silent. Now a raft of clubs have lined up to have a pop and there’s talk of a legal challenge.

I know football clubs like to gamble but I can’t get my head round some of the signings during Covid. Why do football club owners act like the Captain of the Titanic? We could all see the covid iceberg on the horizon so why ignore it, plough on and hope for the best.

I’m sure the £10 million could have been better spent towards free school meals to children. I really don’t like how Marcus Rashford has done the impossible, and made Man United vaguely likeable, the Whitehawk Ultras even managed a song. Sung to the Live Aid tune, ‘Feed the school children, don’t you know its Rashford time’ just pipped ‘Your just a chip shop in Sheppey’ aimed at the five Faversham Town fans to the number one slot at the Enclosed Ground.

And fair play to lower league clubs, who are grabbing their opportunity to pick up frustrated fans. Shoreham and Chalvey Sports directly tweeted me to come and watch them when I complained once again that I couldn’t support the elite Rebels. This direct appeal from lower league clubs is working a treat with Corinthian Casuals one of the best supported teams in the country last week with 600 people through the gate. Last weekend Brighton supporters sponsored the Whitehawk game while others are spearheading the campaign to get Southwick back home. There’s more youngsters in grounds and it’s just like the 1950s with hardly anything to do except work and watch football.

At Whitehawk the Brighton supporters behind us loved the fact that their were dogs in the ground and that subs had to collect wayward balls. Not in a condescending way, but in an enjoyable, I-will-come-again way with talk of half and half hawk/seagull tattoos and scarves. I reckon some Premier League fans will stick to lower leagues but it is a worry for clubs like Slough with Mark Bailey and others doing so much to increase our crowds; it will be a real blow to lose supporters the longer the lockout goes on.

What I would like is for clubs to come clean on costs. Not details of individual players wages but an idea of monthly outgoings and the shortfall, something for us supporters to rally round if we are asked to top it up. We know Slough run a tight ship, so maybe the £30,000 a month covers it, but who knows.

Who Knows - the perfect sponsors for the 2020/21 season.