It's very frustrating knowing that teams from below can leapfrog over you - Bexlians FC

CROWN ALEXANDRA chairman Mike Day has explained why his club have submitted a controversial application to join the Kent Invicta League next season.



The club were formed in 2007 and they play a stone’s throw away from Dartford’s Princes Park Stadium at the Leigh City Technology Academy at Green Street Green Road.

The team play in the THIRD DIVISION of the South London Alliance and sit in eighth place in the division with five wins and four draws from their fourteen league outings.  They are thirteen points clear of the division’s bottom club, Downham Town, in a twelve team division.

The inaugural Kent Invicta League campaign has sixteen clubs, all of which have met certain ground criteria and five clubs have the use of floodlighting.

Orpington are rooted to the foot of the table, with nine points from their twenty games.

There are 83 sides between Orpington and Crown Alexandra and if they are invited to join the Kent Invicta League then it will make a mockery of the English non-league football structure.

Such a move would be unfair on Bromley Green, who are presently sitting at the summit of the Haart of Kent County League – one place below Orpington in the pyramid.

The club’s chairman, Mike Day, said in a statement:  “With regards to our application, we as a club feel we can provide a viable option for the Kent Invicta League from outside the current non-league system.
 
“Our ground and the current league that we play in doesn’t look like we could be an asset to the league but what you currently see from the outside isn’t a true reflection on what is going on behind the scenes with the club.

“I can completely understand peoples reservations especially considering what’s gone on previously with (Kent Invicta League side) Erith & Dartford Town and I even agree to point that if our application was successful it would be harsh on teams such as Eltham Palace and Bromley Green who have worked their way up from the depths of the Kent County League and beyond.

“Even the romantic in me loves the idea of doing it that way, but as Bexley Borough (who are in ninth place in the Haart of Kent County League Division Two West table) proved, it can be hard work even with experienced people behind the scenes.

“The long and short of it is the Kent FA have set a president with Erith & Dartford Town and Corinthian. 

“I feel we have the structure behind the scenes in place to make it succeed or we wouldn’t be applying in the first place.”

Mr Day added: “We have no plans to change our name from what it is and always has been to fit in with the make-up of the league or its surroundings.  We have been built from grassroots players from our surrounding areas and will continue to do this and be proud of it.

“Our application being submitted it certainly is an eye opener how everybody already dismisses us as a club with no means or structure or even having the capabilities to succeed at  the level we are aiming to pitch ourselves at.

“I can assure you all that many months of meticulous planning has gone before this application and myself and my management team are 100% confident that given the opportunity to play at this standard we will not take it lightly.

“We have taken many of our current and past players, friends and advisors experiences on board that have played at many levels and aim to pick from all of that information to mould our club into what we believe is the ideal foundation to grow.

“We aim to be more than just another team who after one season sits and thinks whoops we made a mistake.  We will challenge.”

The club have enlisted the guidance of Simon Kidby, who was instrumental in getting the artist formerly known as Dartford Town, Erith & Dartford Town into the Kent Invicta League without any senior football behind them.

Mr Kidby, who is no longer the secretary of the Crayford based club, who play at VCD Athletic’s Oakwood ground, added, “Crown Alexandra approached me just before Christmas to get involved and assist with their application to step six amongst other things.  Having met the chairman, other officials, toured the ground and facilities and heard their plans I was more than happy to pitch in and help.

“As far as the facilities are concerned there is already a covered stand with 75 seats which is easily expandable.  The main pitch is between lighted Astroturf and Goals who obviously also have lights, so planning permission for lights will not present any problems.  There is a bar and boardroom available in Goals adjacent to the pitch where there is a gated entrance behind the stand.  There is sizeable parking and a gated entrance which can control access to the ground.

“The changing rooms are a good side, the pitch is being roped off and new dug outs can easily be erected within a few weeks to meet the end of March deadline.

“There is already some hard standing and this is probably the only area of concern from what I’ve seen.  Quotes to this effect have been obtained and are being considered.

“The pitch is naturally enclosed on either side but open at either end and all four sides are accessible.  The plan is to extend the pitch away from the school which means an adjacent pitch will be lost.  However, this leaves a sizable area to use as pre-match warm-ups.  Quotes have also been obtained to fence off each end further down the line. 

“Because it’s enclosed and has a stand it already feels like a non-league ground.

“The school is on board and more detailed discussions are to be held with regard to funding, the new youth set up and community work.  

“It goes without saying the club, its players, members and sponsored are very focused on this application and consider they can add value at the senior level.

“A date for the ground grading is to be agreed and we shall go from there.  I wouldn’t worry too much about whether the club can compete on the field as this will not be an issue.”

All very ambitious, but for club’s that ply their trade in the lower reaches of the Kent County League feel aggrieved that a team that are presently playing the likes of New Park Rangers, Fleetdown United A, Southmere, Oldsmiths, Eltham Town Reserves, Elite, Bexley Reserves, Old Colfeians, Iron Tugboat City and Downham Town, can jump up eight levels of football.

“It is very frustrating knowing that teams from below can leapfrog over you and get in even with having little or no playing record or in this case a playing record from South London Alliance Division Three,” said  a statement from  Bexlians, who are in second place in Division Two West of the Kent County League – currently four tiers higher than Crown Alexandra.
 
Quotes courtesy of www.kentleagueforum.com