I feel that I have given it a good shot, says ex-Bearsted boss Tony Cornwell

TONY CORNWELL says he has given it a good shot to get Bearsted into the Southern Counties East Football League during his time in charge at the club.


Cornwell handed in his resignation following the Bears’ 3-2 defeat away to Lewisham Borough last Saturday, which left the Honey Lane based club in the bottom four, having won only one of their opening five games.

“My intention was to get Bearsted FC playing in the Kent League within three years, as I did not intend managing at Kent Invicta League level or below, but took on the role as I knew the club and the chairman very well as the club is situated five minutes from my home,” said Cornwell.

“The prospect looked good initially with planning permission for two stands and floodlights to be installed within the first season.

“The playing staff needed strengthening but I was confident with my contacts and player resources this could be achieved, even though getting players to be committed at this level can prove difficult at times.

“The club have a good youth set up and some very good people behind the scenes but in general only a limited fan base, which prevented any payment to players or managers etc unlike some of the teams within the league.

“Despite that I was still confident we could compete and succeed in achieving promotion to the Kent League, within my time constraints.

“However, my belief has now diminished with not only a poor start to this season to contend with (mainly due to player suspensions and availability), but also in the lack of development to our ground, which is being delayed at the moment due to circumstances beyond the clubs control.

“It would seem at this present time if promotion was or had have been achieved in the past two seasons the club would have been in a similar position to Hollands & Blair FC and would have been bypassed due to ground restrictions.

“This hopefully will be rectified in the future because without ambition the club will find it difficult to compete at the higher end of the Kent Invicta League as the better players will move on to pastures new.

“I feel I have given it a good shot and helped the club improve and build up the professionalism levels and highlighted certain changes the club and the committee will need to take on board if they truly want to move the club up to level five.

“The playing staff in my opinion has substantially improved with a number of players certainly capable of moving up at least one level within the football pyramid.

“Unfortunately I felt my time had elapsed and recently the enjoyment level diminished as I could see too many obstacles in the way to achieve the ambitions I had envisaged.

“I am looking to take a short break away from football management at the moment but will find it hard not to be involved, so will just wait and see what the future holds.

“I would like to thank everyone at Bearsted FC, players, staff, committee and the loyal band of supporters and helpers that have made my time at the club very enjoyable and wish the club all the best in its future development.”

Bearsted are at home to Crockenhill on Saturday, a side that were humiliated 15-0 by league leaders Hollands & Blair at Wested Meadow two weeks ago and are at the foot of the table having lost all of their first four league games.

Visit Bearsted’s website: www.bearstedfc.co.uk

Bearsted  v  Crockenhill
Kent Invicta League
Saturday 7^th September 2013
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Otham Sports Club, Honey Lane, Otham, Maidstone, Kent ME15 8RG