Rams chief urges fans to take up club's free game offer

RAMSGATE chairman Richard Lawson has urged fans to flock through the turnstiles for tomorrow night’s FREE GAME against Thamesmead Town, writes Stephen McCartney.

Club officials have agreed to make the Kent Senior Cup Quarter-Final tie FREE ADMISSION to all, after the original game last month was abandoned at half-time due to a power cut.

“People that came last time have paid to come, it doesn’t seem fair to ask people to pay again,” Mr Lawson told www.kentishfootball.co.uk today.

“You would expect the same people to come again, if one or two more want to come and look at us, then that’s fine.”

Ramsgate are the third Kent club to open their doors to supporters this season and Dover Athletic and Ebbsfleet United have both attracted their largest home crowds of the season in the process.

Just before Christmas, a crowd of 2,760 watched Dover Athletic’s 3-0 win over Tooting & Mitcham United in the Ryman Premier League - and then a whopping 3,750 watched the Fleet defeat Swindon Supermarine 2-0 to reach the quarter finals of the FA Carlsberg Trophy.

But when asked it the Southwood faithful will take advantage of the club’s offer, Mr Lawson admitted he doesn’t hold much breath.

“Stephen, this is Ramsgate,” he replied. “I could press gang people to go up there and I still will not get a lot of people there.

“I think the level of football we give, the crowds could be better”

The Rams chief says he’s concerned about the club’s league position, one spot and two points above the Ryman Premier League drop zone. They have also played the most games than the rest of the sides at the bottom and have 11 games to maintain their current status.

However, an exciting 3-2 home win over basement boys Heybridge Swifts did the club the world of good, but there is a matter of a four-point deduction hanging over the club.

“We’re a good team, we’ve just not had the breaks or the luck this year,” bemoaned Mr Lawson.

“But you have got to balance it out against the previous three or four years that has gone with us.
“We’ve got to work a little bit harder this year. We know what we’ve got on the field is pretty good and of course we’ve got to turn that into wins now.”

Speaking about the club’s appeal, Mr Lawson prays that the football authorities doesn't punish the club.

“We’re waiting for the date for the appeal to be heard at the FA. We’ve prepared all the relevant documents and we’re just waiting,” he said.

“I can only be hopeful but we certainly wouldn’t have appealed unless we felt we didn’t have an excellent case - I can’t really say anymore than that.”

What ever happens, Ramsgate will have to win a vast majority of their remaining league games to avoid the drop.

“On paper we’re deep in relegation trouble anyway,” Mr Lawson admits. “I think one of the biggest mistakes that we’ve made - and I blame myself for - is when games have been postponed due to bad weather we tried to get the games on as quickly as possible, which is why we’ve played more games than anyone else.

“The reason for that was to try and play ourselves in a bit of form. In hindsight, we should have waited until we strengthened the team to give us more of a chance.”

Visit Ramsgate’s website: www.ramsgate-fc.co.uk

Ramsgate v Thamesmead Town
Kent Senior Cup Quarter-Final
Tuesday 17^th February 2009
Kick Off 7:45pm
At Southwood Stadium, Prices Avenue, Ramsgate, Kent CT11 0AN