Cumberbatch fears for his future

Newly appointed Ashford Town chairman Mr Mark Jenner has hinted Ian Wright could play some part in keeping the club in the Ryman League, writes Stephen McCartney.

Mr Jenner switched from chief executive to chairman earlier in the week following a boardroom shuffle at The Homelands.

Mr Tim Thorogood, who rescued the club from insolvency in 2001, agreed to sell the whole of the issued share capital of the club to new investors Mr Tony Betteridge and Mr Don Crosbie with immediate affect.

To ensure success on the field they have invited former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright to become Director of Football Strategy at the struggling Ryman League Division One South club.

“We’ve waited long enough to get this far, Mr Jenner told www.kentishfootball.co.uk on Tuesday night.

“We’ve been looking for outside investors for quite some time and we’ve got really lucky with Don and Tony coming along and wanting to invest in the club.

“Fortunately Ian’s a very good friend of Don and Tony’s so they were able to introduce him to the club.

“There was a knock on the door one Wednesday and there was Ian Wright coming down to have a look round.

“He got really keen, very enthusiastic in what we’re trying to do. He’s very keen on youth development so he’s very graciously decided to become apart of the club (as) director of football strategy.

“He will be out training with the boys from time to time, gave the team talk on Saturday before the game with Godalming and we were two-nil up in twenty minutes - so he’s got something about him!”

Despite their 3-2 defeat to Hastings United on Tuesday night, Mr Jenner believes the club will stay clear of the drop zone.

They have sixteen league games and at least one Kent Senior Cup tie to cram into their fixture list before the end of the season on Saturday, 28^th April.

“We’re looking for a respectable mid-table finish at the end of the season,” said Mr Jenner.

“You’ve got to bare in mind we’re five, maybe six games behind a lot of the other clubs in the table because of the weather we’ve had down here.

“So if we can turn some of them into wins we won’t be second or third from bottom for very long.”

With new investment within the club this sleeping giant should be challenging at the right end of the table next season.

But Mr Jenner warned: “We hope to be certainly up there in the top half a dozen but make no mistake this is a very difficult division to get out of.

“It’s very competitive at the top this season - it won’t be any different next season.

“There’s no guarantee just because you’ve got a better level of solvency that you’re guaranteed success.”

But manager John Cumberbatch’s number one priority is to avoid a devastating drop into the Kent League.

His side are currently in the bottom three and are clearly good enough to climb the table.

But playing at least three games a week for the remainder of the season is concerning Cumberbatch.

“We’ve had this problem with the weather and games being cancelled,” bemoaned Cumberbatch.

“It’s been a fear of mine and I’ve been saying that it’s going to catch up with us because we’re suddenly going to find we’ve got a really hectic schedule.

“We’re not able to get any flow in our football and it’s the one fear I have, the one thing I’m worried about.

“I’m not concerned about how good the team can be because I know how good the side can be. I’m not concerned about the opposition because I know we’re good enough.

“But my fear is this thing with the weather that it’s going to take its toll and we keep getting injuries. I’ve never been involved with a side that’s so unlucky with injuries.”

But Cumberbatch admitted he’s not sure if he’ll be kept on as manager by the new owners next season.

“It’s fantastic news for the club,” he said of the new investment into the club. “It’s very good but from my point of view the things that hold this club, the main thing that has always held this club back, is results on the pitch.

“With the new owners, yes, it’s fantastic, and we can move forward, hopefully at a greater rate but the financial side of it will be better and yes we certainly get better players in and maybe have a bigger budget.

“But there is still been enough decent players here that we shouldn’t be in this position and my focus has got to be totally on that.

“The new owners may look at it and say that either I’m not doing well enough or even if I do well and the team start climbing up they might want to push it further forward and they may be looking to get a different manager in.”

Ashford travel to Leatherhead on Saturday and will be hoping their home Kent derby against promotion chasing Dartford goes ahead at the fourth attempt next Tuesday evening.

Then two days later they travel to Kent League side VCD Athletic in the quarter-finals of the Kent Senior Cup before welcoming Walton Casuals in a must-win game at The Homelands on Saturday, 24^th March.

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

Leatherhead v Ashford Town
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 17^th March 2007
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Fetcham Grove, Guildford Road, Leatherhead, Surrey KT22 9AS