The foundations have to be in place first, says Becks' chairman

Thursday 19th November 2009

BECKENHAM TOWN chairman Chris McCarthy says the club’s finances are now sound, after fears that the Kent League club were on the brink of going out of business during the close season, writes Stephen McCartney.

Beckenham Town are the sole Kent survivors in the FA Carlsberg Vase and look forward to a last 64 trip to Maldon Town to tackle Essex Senior League outfit Tiptree United on 5th December, but things were looking bleak a few months back.

“The finances coming in from the Vase obviously help the situation,” Mr McCarthy told www.kentishfootball.co.uk following the club’s deserved 2-1 home win over Carterton in midweek.

“I’m more pleased with the progress off the field if the truth be told,” he added. “The club was belly up, going nowhere and probably gone like Fisher. It was that bad! We would have probably gone out of business, Beckenham would have folded!

But he added: “But it’s turned round, all what we’ve done off the field, the lads appreciate it. We’re probably one of three sides in the Kent League who don’t actually pay their players so we’ve got a bunch of lads who are all together and doing it for nothing.

“When you’ve got a few other clubs, who are throwing money at it left, right and centre, shows we’ve got a good bonding, good camaraderie and the club is moving forward again.”

Three years ago, when the club were in a titanic battle with Maidstone United, a paving slab was laid where the new stand was going to be located - but the club decided not to install a stand so fans had to squeeze into it’s wooden structure on the other side of the pitch.

But the club is in the process of raising half of the £30,000 needed to install a 160-seater stand, where the original stand was expected to be placed.

“It’s approximately £30,000,” revealed Mr McCarthy. “We spoke to the Sports Council regarding that and hopefully we’re looking to get £15,000 from them so we’re looking to put the stand up hopefully by the end of the season.

“We’ve got disabled toilets (to install), which we’ll do in the close season in the clubhouse but we’ve just haven’t had the finances this year doing everything like that.

“As you see, the dressing rooms are complete now, any club coming to our facilities now, as far as changing rooms are concerned, will be very pleased, bar, the pitch is in very good order, so yes the club is sound.

“If you’re trying to build a house and the foundations aren’t in place, the house will crumble eventually.”

When asked how much money the club owed, Mr McCarthy replied, “A few grand, five figures.”

Last season, Beckenham finished a miserable campaign in the bottom three, and are presently in third place in the Kent League table after 10 games - 12 points behind runaway unbeaten leaders Faversham Town.

“I’d love to think we can go up but we need Faversham to slip up and we need to carry on performing like that all through the year,” said the chairman.

“But from where we was last year, third from bottom, a club going bust, now a club sitting third from top, things are looking good off the field and on the field.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s home game against Hythe Town, manager Jason Huntley will do his level best to keep his side’s feet on the ground following the high of their FA Carlsberg Vase win over a decent Carterton side.

“We won’t get too carried away, it’s back to the business on Saturday in the league,” Huntley told www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

“It will be a tough game here, we’re on a good run at the moment and the lads are all pulling together.

“We’ve got a couple boys out - but players can come in and do a job for us.”

Hythe arrive at Eden Park Avenue sitting in tenth place in the table - eight points behind Beckenham - although Scott Porter’s side have only played seven league games.

Porter took advantage of a friendly visit of Canterbury City to Reachfields in midweek, making four changes from their impressive win over Holmesdale in their last game.

Kieran Byrne and Mike Yianni were on the scoresheet for Hythe, who came up against old team-mates Paul Hyde, Craig Southen, and the goalscoring Liam Whiting.

Buster Beaney, Matt Bower, Graham Porter, and Ian Batten came in to cover rested and unavailable players.

Hythe played some decent football and on another night could have scored a hatful as both sides enjoyed a run-out following recent postponements due to the bad weather and had to settle for a 2-2 draw against the Vandanel Kent County League side.

Visit Beckenham Town’s website: www.beckenhamtownfc.co.uk

Visit Hythe Town’s website: www.htyhetownfc.co.uk

Beckenham Town v Hythe Town

Bulmers Cider Kent League

Saturday 21st November 2009

Kick Off 3:00pm

At Eden Park Avenue, Beckenham, Kernt BR3 3JL