SOMETHING UNIQUE

Printed in the National League South game v Taunton Town Saturday 6th January 2024. We won 3-0 in front of 947

I love Christmas, the only time we get to close our community garden for a few weeks; where the football comes thick and fast, where you forget what day it is, have no deadlines, have time to read books – and get to eat an amazing Christmas dinner at my mums with all her hundreds of grandchildren. Then its my birthday Boxing Day football feast with a curry with family and the Shiel mafia to finish it all off.

One of the books I’ve been reading is Sir Bob Murray, ‘I’d do It All Again’, a biography about a boy from the coalfields and steelworks of Consett, supporting Sunderland. Struggling at school and unemployed he eventually finds his feet and makes his millions from kitchens, to becoming chairman of his boyhood club. But it’s more than just about a tale of rags to riches, its about a man who cares deeply about his football club and has pride in the places and people that surround it. This spurs him on and thanks to his new found wealth and tenacity, he builds the Stadium of Light, an Academy and the Beacon of Light for the Foundation of Light, and independent charity that helps over 20,000 people a year. These successes led him to be asked to take charge of the stalled Wembley stadium project and St. Georges Park. It really is some story with his vision and passion – but also the many knocks and set backs that you especially encounter from running a football club.

Sunderland are really a Premier League club but are Hampton and Richmond? Their sharp suited new owners have transformed the club, they are second in the league, crowds are up and average age of supporters down. But talking about becoming financially sustainable (Hampton lost £345,000 in 2022/23) getting promoted to the Football League, even the Champions League! I’m sorry but I think that’s delusional with so much nearby competition. How many Hampton fans support Brentford as well? How do Hampton hold onto what makes them unique without eventually just mimicking a poorer version of Brentford?

Surely, that’s the million dollar question: how do you retrain that unique selling point, that friendliness, that draws people to lower league football when you power up the leagues? We’ve experienced at Bromley how one of the National League high flyers who wax lyrical about community, treats away fans. Whereas National League South newcomers Aveley rolled out the red carpet. Yes I was served the worst cheesy chips ever, but their aircraft hanger clubhouse is what we should have had at Arbour Park (our bar is more an aircraft lounge) and their stewards said we were the best supporters they’d had all season. They practically wheeled their bins out for us to hit!

You wonder how teams like Aveley can increase their crowds when they are out on a public transport limb in the middle of nowhere. They made a flying start to the campaign, but have faltered lately thanks to bigger clubs signing up their best players. While some braved the bus me and Spreadsheet Stu stopped at Rainham village first for a couple of beers before jumping in a cab. A church dominates the village while chicken and chips dominates the shops. They are down to their last pub and Rainham Town football club folded in 1994. Infact this part of Essex hasn’t been great for local football teams many of whom have led a nomadic existence. East Thurrock went bust and Romford – who’ve been homeless for years – have moved in, even though its half an hour from the town they represent. Thurrock dissolved in 2018 but Grays Athletic who’ve also been homeless for years announced they will be moving into Ship Lane.

If I’m honest I was disappointed with our Boxing Day crowd of just over 1,000 and its obvious there is so much more to do to increase our crowds and its diversity but I’ve got every faith in our new owners who don’t have the sharp suites of Hampton or talk in Eastbourne Borough riddles but know the town and its football club.

Could Slough become a football league club? Is promotion for a football club the only measure of success? I look at our community pub always teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and only really surviving because of peoples goodwill, generous handouts and community spirit. We realise the Bevy cannot compete with the bright lights of Brighton or the student bars, so it has to be more than just a pub, that delivers activities for free or really cheap in an area where people are skint. It has to play to its unique selling point.

I see lots of parallels in our football club. Slough Town survive on volunteers and goodwill by the bucketfuls. Our manager has introduced heavy metal football - giving bigger clubs with bigger budgets a bloody nose on the pitch - while our new owners have given the club a spring in its step that I’m really enjoying. Its unique, and its ours and its amber and blue. That’s something worth banging the drum for.