The budget’s enough to challenge again for promotion again next season, says Dover Athletic chairman

Sunday 09th May 2010

DOVER ATHLETIC chairman Jim Parmenter says he is giving manager Andy Hessenthaler the same budget to win the Blue Square South title next season, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Kent giants finished as runners-up to Welsh side Newport County in their first ever season at this level and Mr Parmenter, who was speaking in an audio interview on www.doverathletic.com, says Hessenthaler will be given the tools to go one better next season.

Dover Athletic were defeated by Woking in the semi-finals of the play-off’s - losing the away leg 2-1 before lady luck deserted them at Crabble in the second leg as Woking made it through to the final.

Hessenthaler has also had a crippling injury list to contend with during the course of the season.

“You look back over the season, you can see the terrible injury problems we’ve had,” reflected Mr Parmenter.

“It’s a fantastic testament to the management and to the players, the squad of players, we’ve come runners-up in Conference South.

“We were very unlucky in the home game against Woking, hitting the bar four times. I think it was one of those, I believe it did actually cross the line and we scored, but the referee didn’t give it.

“Where lady luck is so much against you in a game, it really is not your time.”

The chairman added: “You play in a football league to win it and if you get your chance for promotion you take it with both arms and really try and make it work.

“I don’t think it’s such a thing as a season too early. If we had managed to pull off the result and won the final we would have been delighted to go up. On the other side of the coin, it’s not a disaster for us.”

Dover Athletic’s crowds next season will be boosted with the likes of Dartford, Ebbsfleet United and Welling United visiting Crabble next season, where as had they gone up to the top flight of non-league football then local derbies would have been non existent.

“We’ve got a lot of local games in Conference South next season, the Dartford’s, Ebbsfleet, the Farnborough’s etc, who are coming up, so it’s going to be a better more competitive league for us and a very interesting and exciting one for the supporters,” added Mr Parmenter.

“We would have taken promotion - we would have loved it - but equally not getting promotion for the club is not a disaster.”

It would be fair to say that Hessenthaler will have the highest playing budget for a non-league football manager here in Kent.

“The budget is not going to be cut from the intended budget last season,” revealed Mr Parmenter.

“We did over spend by quite a margin this year and that was mainly down to the injuries, the serious injuries and the long-term injuries that we had so that meant signing other players, bringing in loan players.

“We’re hopeful this week that we’ll have our news on who’s going to be released and who’s going to be retained and once we’ve decided who we’re going to retain we have to go into contract negotiations so I anticipate another week before those are complete.

“The budget is robust to challenge again next season. As I say the actual budget is identical to last season. We hope we don’t have to find our extra resources to cover the amount of injuries that we had to cover this season.

“We hope things go smoother on that front but certainly the budget’s enough to challenge again for promotion again next season.”

After a season in Blue Square South, Hessenthaler will know that sometimes you have to do the ugly stuff on the pitch - the physical element of the game - as well as playing slick passing football.

“I think we certainly know what we need to win this league, what type of player we need,” added the chairman.

“It’s certainly been a big lesson, certainly for me and I know for Andy to know what’s actually needed to win this league.”

And for any Football League club’s that are searching for new managers, Mr Parmenter issued this hands-off warning.

“He’s got one year, he’s under contract for next year,” he said. “Again, I don’t want to go over old ground with the possibility of league clubs coming in for him, but he’s preparing for next season as Dover Athletic’s manager and I’m very, very pleased about that.

“He’s getting my full support and I look forward to winning Conference South with him next season.”

Quotes courtesy of www.doverathletic.com