Taken from Monday’s programme against Met Police
Well, well, well!
“Let’s all stay behind the boys for the last 7 games and keep our nerve if we have a setback. I know the team, and they are all desperate to win silverware, but its never over until its over so as a united Green Army let have that final push as a family of officials, players and supporters.”
That was the last paragraph from my Portchester Chat and then it happened. A strong Portchester team, who will be a real handful in the playoffs, gave us a slap in the face and stopped any complacency we had in its tracks. I think we all could see the finish line after the win at Horndean and the 2-3 defeat reminded us all that it’s never over until it’s over. As I said above, now is the time to stick together and support the boys even more.
4 days later and the team played like Champions as we produced one of our best performances of the season to put Kingstonian to the sword in a game that, but for their keeper, could have been even more emphatic than the 3-0 scoreline.
All roads now lead to Littlehampton for what I hope will be the defining day of this quite remarkable season. Fingers crossed that today will be a celebration of all our hard work as the boys get their hands on a league trophy for the first time since 1964.
This week we have been showing how much our Football Club is part of our local community with three different charities working with us. Leatherhead Rotary working with Cancer Research UK and Prostate Cancer UK as part of National Non-League Day on Saturday collecting for their great cause. Last but not least on Tuesday the 31st March the Prostate Project tested, free of charge, 94 local men at Fetcham Grove. The work we do off the pitch makes me equally as proud as the work on it and I want to thank all the Board members for working so hard to support these events.
I had the good fortune this week to go to Wembley for the England v Uruguay game as a guest of Ray Lewis of the Surrey FA. We sat in the royal box and I had the pleasure of chatting with David Dein the ex Arsenal Chairman who spoke warmly of our manager Ian Selley and his time at Arsenal. He was a real gentleman and I know Ian was pleased when I told him as he also remembers David with affection and someone who always looked after and took an interest in his players.
A number of fans have been asking me if we win promotion, which league will we go into and will it be the Isthmian Premier Division or the Southern Football League Premier South? The honest answer is we will not know until mid-May when the FA Committee meet to allocate teams to each league. We are right on the border of both leagues so where we end up depends on who goes down from Step 2 and who gets promoted from Step 4 . All I can say is that the minute we know we will communicate to all supporters.
Today we will start our outside catering experiment which will run for the last 2 games of the season. Kell’s Kitchen will be back, providing all the hot food for supporters. As you might remember from the Horsham game, they will be situated behind the Maguire stand with the Tea Bar serving drinks, snacks and sweets only. We, as a Board, are mindful that with our increasing crowds, queuing is becoming an issue and we will be doing all we can to prevent this. So if we are lucky enough to get promotion we will continue to develop our service levels to those appropriate for a Step 3 team.
All that is left is to welcome the officials, players and supporters of Met Police and I hope you enjoy your time at Fetcham Grove.
UP THE TANNERS
JOHN DEAN
CHAIRMAN
