Everybody will be throwing money to win the Kent League next season, says Fisher boss Steve Firkins

FISHER boss Steve Firkins says his side can only start to think about challenging for the title if he is provided with a playing budget next season.


The south London outfit suffered their fourth successive defeat when they lost to basement side Greenwich Borough at Champion Hill yesterday.

They found themselves 3-0 down, as Rob Depeaser (penalty), Mathieu Ramsamy and Ashley Wright scored in a twenty minute spell during the second half, before Fisher fought back and scored twice inside the final seven minutes.

Substitute Alex Ball, who was playing his second game for the club, rolled home his first goal for the club, before former Greenwich Borough midfielder Adam Wadmore headed home from a corner at the death.

The result leaves the club in tenth place in the Kent Hurlimann Football League table, with 28 points from 23 games, a vast improvement on last season when the club, under former boss Gary Lisney, finished at the foot of the table and in their first campaign they finished with Corinthian, Sporting Bengal United and Lordswood below them in the table. 

Fisher have not paid their players throughout the last three seasons.

But with Herne Bay now only four wins away from clinching the Kent League title this season, Firkins says he needs money to compete with next season’s title challengers, especially as the club are currently the fourth best supported club in the division.

“We are planning for next season, we have to sit down with the club and see what we’ve got available to us next year,” said the former Greenwich Borough boss.

“We’re already started speaking to certain players for next year but I think you’ll find all the clubs, Herne Bay look like their running away with the league and get promoted next year, so for me everybody will be throwing money at it.”

Firkins claimed: “Erith & Belvedere, they always have a budget, Tunbridge Wells and even Canterbury, so all those sort of teams that have budgets now they will probably put a lot more into it to try and win the league next year.

“But where does that leaves us?  I don’t know.  If we’re going to have anything like that I really don’t know. 

“Were sitting down talking to the lads (the committee) at Fisher so hopefully something can come up. 

“We’ve identified a few lads’ who we want to bring in and hopefully start building for next year but at the moment we just want to get the season over with really.”

Fisher welcome Tunbridge Wells to Champion Hill next Saturday.  Martin Larkin’s men suffered a blow to their title credentials when they suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Corinthian at Gay Dawn Farm and the Culverden Stadium outfit slipped down to fifth-place in the table, sixteen points adrift of Herne Bay, with 40 points from 22 games.

Firkins added: “The idea was to bounce back against Greenwich Borough. We’re on a slump, we just have to try and build and try to encourage the lads.”

One positive from yesterday’s poor display was Danny Taylor, who played at right-back and was put in many strong challengers.

“I’ve known Danny for years and he was always a centre half,” explained Firkins.

“Perhaps that’s something we may look at. It might be worth having a look at different scenarios for the rest of the season.

“We’re missing Richie Monan, he gives us a little bit of pace at the back.

“We still have a one or two to come back in but overall the ironic thing is our strikers this year, we’ve had so many injuries.”

Speaking about his depleted fire-power, a strength before Christmas, Firkins said: “Danny Hunt has not long come back and it’s like pre-season for him again and Mark Sisson scored two in two the last couple of games and he’s got a knee injury.   It’s an old wound and that’s flared up again and he was unable to play so we’ve got one striker back that’s started scoring and we’ve had to drop him out today.

“We’ve had loads and loads of disruption.  I don’t think I’ve put the same team out twice running for as any weeks.  It can be classed as an excuse. It’s a reason, maybe not an excuse but we’ve just not had a settled side since before Christmas.”

Visit Fisher’s website: www.fisherfc.co.uk

Fisher  v  Tunbridge Wells
Kent Hurlimann Football League
Saturday 17h March 2012
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Champion Hill Stadium, Dog Kennel Hill, Edgar Kail Way, East Dulwich, London SE22 8BD