My players can still turn it around, insists cash-strapped Folkestone boss Neil Cugley

Thursday 13th January 2011
FOLKESTONE INVICTA boss Neil Cugley says his club are struggling to make ends meet, writes Stephen McCartney.


In the week that Kent club Sittingbourne announced that they are no longer paying their players due to a debt of around £20,000, Cugley said: “We just haven’t got any finances at the moment.  Things are very tight and we have to be so careful with our finances.”

Former Dover Athletic left-back, Sam Gore, 22, has swiftly left the club and has signed for Ryman League Division One South club Faversham Town.

Cugley said: “We’re in a situation where we have to dig in and get on with it really.  I don’t want to sign players and not have any squad payment in place for them and that’s the situation with Allan Tait and Sam Gore.  I was a bit worried we wouldn’t be able to pay them.”

When asked whether the struggling Ryman Premier League club are paying their players, Cugley revealed, “Yes, we are, some are, some aren’t.  Things are tight but the players have been absolutely brilliant, which they always are at Folkestone.  I’m going to give them a lot of credit.  I’m not going into details but they’re helping the club out more than they maybe should do but they’ve been brilliant.”

Folkestone Invicta travel to foes Croydon Athletic on Saturday.  The Rams splashed the cash last season, whilst the Kent club struggled financially and Cugley’s men would have claimed the Ryman League Division One South title if it wasn’t for a points deduction for falling into administration.

In the end both sides were promoted and are both struggling in the bottom two of the Ryman Premier League this term.

The Surrey side were faced with financial problems of their own following their much publicised off-the-pitch issues earlier in the season, but things seem to be on an even keel financially, especially as the club can now afford the services of goalkeeper Charlie Mitten, who has signed for the club following a short spell with Cray Wanderers as manager Ian Jenkins was without Dave King, who was suffering with a back injury.

Croydon Athletic (who have lost three points) sit at the foot of the Ryman Premier League table with 12 points from 21 games, but Folkestone are one place higher with 15 points from 20 games.

The Kent club are only three points adrift of safety, so victory will boost morale.

“We’d like to win it, to make sure we don’t get dragged down even further, so it’s going to be difficult,” warned Cugley.

“Obviously they’ve got a few bob again now, so we just have to get on with it really, there’s nothing we can do about it ourselves.  We have to worry about ourselves and we just have to keep plugging away.”

Cugley added: “We don’t have much luck with Croydon (Athletic), let’s put it like that.  Last year they had money to burn and won the league and technically we could have won the league and earlier on in the season they came down with a massive squad and a massive budget and fair enough they beat us and the money went two weeks later and now it’s back again so it’s a bit frustrating, but what can you do?  There’s nothing you can do about it!”

Cugley has the unwanted record of managing the side that have scored the fewest league goals (13) this season - but he is desperate to change this statistic.

But he revealed he has no extra money to bring in new faces, but supporters must flock through the turnstiles for the visit of ninth-placed Carshalton Athletic on Tuesday night, as the club needs crowds of over 300 to compete at this level.

“It’s hard work at the minute and if you get a win it just cheers everyone up and it gets you going, but we’re in a good standard of football, club’s have still got good finances in place, so it’s going to be very difficult,” said Cugley.

“From day one I knew we need 48 points, nothing has changed.  If we get 48 points we stay up.  It doesn’t matter when you get them, or who you win against.  If you don’t get that, you go down. We always knew it would be a difficult season and I’m afraid it has been that.

“But again, I can’t knock the players really, effort wise.  Sometimes we’ve lacked a bit of quality but I think the effort and attitude of the players has been spot on but they can still turn it around.

“At the end of the day it will be these players that do it.  I can’t see any players coming in at all so it will be the ones we’ve got not to turn it around.”

Carshalton Athletic harbour play-off aspirations and are five points adrift of fifth-placed Lowestoft Town.

And Cugley appreciates the support from the Folkestone fans during these tough times.

“I think they realise that the players are doing their bit, everybody’s doing their bit, so hopefully they will come along,” he said.  

“They’re good people, I’m not going to knock them, but we’re given them nothing to cheer about really.  What’s been disappointing is we haven’t scored enough goals but that’s not through the lack of effort or not working on it in training.

“The Aveley game was quite exciting with chances at both ends and that’s what they want to see and that’s what I’ve got to try and get for them for the rest of the season.

“But as I said earlier, there’s some good sides in the league.  It’s a good league, I want to stay in the league the best I can, and I will do what I can to make sure we stay in it but it’s a difficult league.

“There are some good teams in this league and I expect Carshalton will be one of them.”

Visit Folkestone Invicta’s website: www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk

Croydon Athletic  v  Folkestone Invicta
Ryman Premier League
Saturday 15th January 2011
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Mayfield Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 6DN

PLEASE NOTE:
Since this article was written, there has been confirmation that next Tuesday's game between Folkestone Invicta and Carshalton Athletic has been postponed.  This is due to Carshalton's Surrey Senior Cup commitments.