Soccer Shorts: Cray Wanderers face Sheffield in Oldest Club battle

Friday 04th June 2010

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TROUBLED Kent club Ebbsfleet United have reminded supporters that they can assist with next season’s playing budget by taking part in their “Adopt A Player Scheme.”

Adopt A Player is a group of Fleet fans that have pooled together to pay player’s wages. The individual investor chooses the position that they would like to sponsor, forming a bond with the team and making sure their contributions are transparent and accountable.

“Our Adopt a Player pool will have the opportunity to grow!” said a club statement. “In the event that a player is transferred, the fee is transferred back into the pool for reinvestment, helping to make contributions sustainable, rather than just donations.

“Transfer fees will be reinvested on a different player’s wages at the discretion of the investor.”

So far £13,800 has been raised - although manager Liam Daish, who is preparing for Blue Square Bet South football in August following the club’s relegation after eight years in the top flight of non-league football, has yet unveiled any summer signings.

The only confirmed departure is defender Darius Charles, who has signed for League Two newcomers Stevenage, although a transfer fee will be decided by a FA tribunal, as the Fleet offered the former Brentford ace a contract, on the same terms as last season.

To join the scheme, visit http://myfootballclub.co.uk/AdoptAPlayer.html

DARTFORD would like to remind Kent’s goalkeepers that Keeper Wars takes place on the community pitch at Princes Park on Sunday at 11am.

This year, the organisers of the event have chosen “Help For Heroes” as their chosen charity.

Organiser John Macrae - Dartford’s goalkeeper coach - can be contacted on 07729 170 687 for further details.

DOVER ATHLETIC are delighted to announce an exciting addition to their 2010-11 promotion push with the signing of popular Barnet midfielder Joe Tabiri.

While on loan at the end of last term, Joe became a major hit with the Crabble faithful in the course of his 11 games in a Dover shirt, with a particularly memorable goal against Eastleigh sending the River End into rapture during Whites' excellent late season Blue Square South run.

The 20-year-old Londoner made his Barnet debut in 2008, playing 12 games for the League 2 club before various loan spells took him to Dover in March.

And Whites chairman Jim Parmenter is pleased to welcome the skilful and combative midfielder to the club on an initial one-year deal, as new boss Ian Hendon's squad for 2010-11 starts to take shape.

The chairman told www.doverathletic.com today: "Joe is a really great signing. He was fantastic for us last time round and is a real crowd favourite. I'm sure he will be a crucial part of our side as we aim for promotion next season."

CRAY WANDERERS will be travelling to Yorkshire on Saturday 31 July in a game that can be described as “The Oldest Club in the North” playing “The Oldest Club in the South,” as Sheffield FC entertain Cray Wanderers in a pre-season friendly in this the Wands’ 150th Anniversary year.

“It’s a game that shouldn’t be missed,” said Cray Wanderers’ chairman Gary Hillman.

WHITSTABLE TOWN manager Mark Lane, who guided the side to another season of Ryman League football after he took over with ten games remaining, was upbeat about the challenges ahead.

He has already pencilled in a couple of pre-season games and invited back sixteen of last year’s squad to pre-season in preparation of the first league game of the 2010-11 season in August.

But he will be without Ian Pulman, who signed for league rivals Ashford Town this week, and another striker, Stuart Vahid is expected to sign for Ramsgate.

“Of the players I have invited back, I only have one or two still to put pen to paper, plus there are a couple of new faces you will see at the Belmont next season,” Lane told www.whitstabletownfc.co.uk.

“It may still seem a long way off but believe me Clint (Gooding) and I are on the phone non-stop talking about improving on last year’s performance.

“We do not intend to have a repeat of last season when we struggled all year around the foot of the table; I think you will see a more determined Whitstable this season than last. Certainly we have something to build on from the way we finished last season, next we intend to be up for it right from the off.

“I hope to reveal a new addition to my back room staff alongside Clint and myself within the next few days or so as we want to be as prepared and professional as we can be in all departments.

“All the players I have invited back have their info packs already for the start of training so know what is expected of them to play for Whitstable Town.

“Any player that plays for me will be treated with respect but they also need to know that I am no soft touch and no-one will be in for an easy ride.

“Through my background in the sports and leisure industry and I know the sort of fitness levels I can expect, I will be demanding the best levels of fitness from my players and I will be mercenary in getting the performances from them I require.

“I do not intend to carry and passengers in my team, if they can’t hack it then they need to look elsewhere as fitness is such a vital part of an athlete’s preparation.

“Clint and I will be looking closely and every detail of the player’s fitness and ability so that we get that extra 10 to 15% out of them consistently throughout the season, that will get us an extra ten to fifteen points and that could mean the difference between a great season and an ok one.

“So detail will be something I will be focusing on and I will give my players all the support they need, to that end the club will be supporting me to put the best team on the pitch week in week out and make sure the supporters have a team they can be proud of.”

Meanwhile, the club confirmed that Dave Soutan has joined the club from last season’s Kent League double winners Faversham Town.

ERITH & DARTFORD TOWN are searching for a new reserve team manager.

The club, formerly known as Erith Town, compete in the Bulmers Cider Kent League and candidates must be ambitious and have a good knowledge of under 18s football as the Erith Sports Stadium outfit look to develop a young reserve team next season.

Candidates will work closely with the first team management. All interested parties should contact first team manager Steve O’Boyle on 07977 490 547.

O’Boyle, who has links with Charlton Athletic, is currently in negotiations with the League One side about them sending a side down to play the Dockers, who begin their pre-season campaign with an away game at Ramsgate (17 July).

The rest of their friendlies will be played on home soil against Tonbridge Angels (21 July), East Grinstead (24 July), Welling United (28 July), Dulwich Hamlet (31 July) and Leatherhead (2 August).

TUNBRIDGE WELLS boss Martin Larkin reflects on the achievements of his side following his first year in senior football management - one of the club’s best season’s in a decade.

“Naturally, I was very proud of the finish the guys achieved,” Larkin told www.tunbridgewellsfc.co.uk.

He added that he and his management team of Brad Sandeman and Greg Thurstans pushed the players very hard after Christmas to make sure as strong a finish as possible was achieved.

“With a bit more luck here and there we would have finished even higher,” said Larkin. “Everyone knows the parameters that we worked under this year, so to achieve what we did in terms of the look of the league table is very pleasing.”

Shying away from the limelight, Larkin quickly adds, “Ultimately full credit should go to the players as they are the ones that performed so well. They took the flack when they weren’t performing so should equally take the plaudits for how they finished.”

As though to add substance to that sentiment, Larkin reveals that while he has been busy over these past few weeks, his activities have led him to one conclusion for the coming season: “After a few initial phone calls with targets, we have decided to concentrate on what we have here already. It is far more important that we keep this group together, rather than bring in guys that might not necessarily improve us as a unit.

“We have got a great group of lads here, so we brought them all in for a May training session just to keep them happy as most of them had started their own training already!

“We have invited everyone back for pre-season, and I am expecting to keep all of those players we want for next season.

“The kind of player we would have to look at to improve what we have would probably want paying, so we will have to see who is about come the end of pre-season, and see if we can convince them that we are a club worth giving up that money for, then all is well and good - but we are very happy with the squad we have, and are excited about formally promoting Callum Hampson and Jack Harris to the first team squad.

“Hopefully Ryan Waterman and Ben Williamson will join them from the very promising U16 team.”

At this time last year, the target ‘to better the previous year’s finish’ may not have grabbed every supporter’s imagination - but with a similar goal for this season, that turns the club’s ambitions into genuine hopes for a top six finish.

The top six - to any supporter who’s been knocking around the Kent League for any length of time - is something of a Holy Grail for lower to mid-table sides looking to turn years of mediocrity around.

While for many, that ambition often proves beyond them, it would seem to be fair game for The Wells next year - but only at the expense of one of a fairly traditional cluster of sides who have made those positions their own over the last few years.

“I estimate that to achieve that, we’ll need to score 10 more goals, and concede 10 fewer,” Larkin specifies.

“If we do that then we will have enough points for a top six finish - it’s as simple as that. We also want to improve our Cup record though. We lost every Cup tie we played last year, so we certainly want to improve on that.

“The bottom line to all of the plans is in keeping the squad together,” he summarises. “It will be nice that we won’t have to spend time teaching the lads how we want to play. Everyone will have had 30 games already, which means we can work much more on the technical aspects of the game to make us a lot tighter at the back, and to get a lot more runners into the box to score us the extra goals we’ll need.”

Tunbridge Wells report back to pre-season training on Saturday 26 June.

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