Sittingbourne switch midweek dates to entice fans to Bourne Park - EXCLUSIVE

SITTINGBOURNE need to attract average gates of 300 to Bourne Park next season - just to break even, writes Stephen McCartney.

That is the claim coming from club secretary John Pitts today, who believes televised football is harming the Ryman League Division One South club.

And the Brickies have been forced to switch their midweek games from Tuesday to Monday nights next season to entice people to come and watch Gary Abbott’s side in action.

Despite finishing in ninth place in the table last season, the club attracted an average gate of just 190.

Mr Pitts, speaking EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk, however, admitted that tenants Maidstone United assist greatly, with average gates of 444 and the prospect of local well-supported clubs such as Dartford, Dover Athletic and Tonbridge Angels visiting next season, this warms the heart of Mr Pitts, who knows his club are living on a shoe-string.

“Basically, when we’ve had midweek games last year and the previous season, gates have been pitifully low,” he said.

“Both years we’ve seen our lowest ever attendances on a Tuesday night and we’ve noticed the success of some of the local sides that have shifted to a Monday and we’ve thought we’ll try for a season and see how it goes, if we can get more interest.

“I think last year we had the lowest ever attendance (71 against Molesey on Tuesday, 18^th December) and the previous year we had the lowest ever attendance before that one and we have to do something to combat live television basically.

“The problem comes when you get a cold, damp night and people think they might come out (to watch Sittingbourne) but they’ve got the prospect of putting their feet up with a cup or tea or coffee (to watch televised football) - they won’t come out.

“It’s just an experiment we’ll try for one season.

“We do exist without really going hugely over the red. If we could achieve an average gate of over 300 we would be a happy team indeed.

“We’re not asking for the earth. Andy Spice (the chairman) knows far more about the finances than me (but) if we had an average of 300 we’d be happy and be able to compete as well. We do have a rigid wage structure that we won’t break.”

Mr Pitts, meanwhile, revealed that manager Gary Abbott is expected to unveil new signings shortly.

He said: “Gary and I do not really want to release the names yet, there might be something towards the end of next week when we can release a couple of names of people signing. We’d rather keep it to ourselves at the moment.

“We do expect to lose a couple who have been approached by higher league clubs. Ryan Johnson and Lee Spiller have been given offers by higher league clubs but whether they’ll go our not we don’t know. But good luck to them if they do.”

Despite a good campaign last term, Mr Pitts is at pains to know why fans didn’t flock through the turnstiles.

“We really don’t know!” he said. “Last year we felt we were quite successful and if a few people came along we could have gone that extra mile and signed the players to get us into the play-off’s.

“The crowds didn’t increase so we couldn’t increase the playing budget.”

Sittingbourne’s situation would be even worse if it wasn’t for the money that comes in from tenants Maidstone United.

“Without Maidstone United we would struggle,” Mr Pitts admitted. “We’re quite happy to tell the world that and we do get on well with them.

“Financially we’re obviously pleased with the contribution that Maidstone make both in the rental and the money that comes over the home games.

“We’re very grateful to Maidstone and we get on well with them and we’re happy for them to share with us.”

Mr Pitts, meanwhile, explained the reasons behind scrapping the club’s reserve side.

Sittingbourne’s second string finished fourth-bottom in the second division of the Kent League last season.

“We’re sorry to be doing it but it’s purely a financial thing,” he said.

“Well it costs us a lot more than other teams because we’ve had to play our (home) games under floodlights in midweek and along with the electricity cost and officials, we’ve made a large loss on the reserve side.

“The major problem we’ve had is very few players have come through so we decided to cut our losses and it will save the ground - less matches on the pitch.

“But the main reason is financial. We are sorry to be doing it and we’ll perhaps reconsider in a future season when things improve.”

Sittingbourne, who are keeping their admission prices the same price as last season (£8 adults and £4 concessions), are searching for a pre-season friendly, either home or away, for Saturday, 9^th August - the opening day of the season for the Blue Square and Kent League’s.

SITTINGBOURNE’S PRE-SEASON MATCHES
Thursday 17^th July - Home - Welling United
Saturday 19^th July - away - Erith & Belvedere
Tuesday 22^nd July - Home - Fisher Athletic
Saturday 26^th July - Home - Faversham Town
Thursday 31^st July - away - Thamesmead Town
Saturday 2^nd August - Broxbourne Borough - venue to be decided
Monday 4^th August - away - Aveley
Saturday 9^th August - To play Sittingbourne please contact secretary John Pitts

Visit Sittingbourne’s website:  www.sittingbournefc.co.uk