The offer from Leatherhead came out of nowhere, says Darren Smith

FOLKESTONE INVICTA midfielder Darren Smith has explained his reasons behind his move to their Ryman League Division One South rivals Leatherhead.



Smith, 35, says his sole reason for leaving Folkestone Invicta after four-and-a-half years is a matter of logistics and his desire to see more of his growing family.

Smith has moved to Leatherhead, and says it is because they will be training at Dartford this coming season – much closer than Folkestone to his home – that he has opted to join up with The Tanners.
Ironically perhaps, he cites Folkestone’s play-off semi-final victory over the Surrey outfit a few years back as ‘the best game I’ve ever played in’!

Smith told www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk: “I’ve loved it at Folkestone and I get on well with everybody down there. But this offer (from Leatherhead) came out of the blue and it will make a lot of difference in how much I see my wife and kids during the week.

“A lot of their players now come from North Kent and the manager (Richard Brady) tells me they’re training at Dartford which is 20 minutes from where I live and 20 minutes from my work.

“To get to Cheriton Road for training I’ve had to be sure I got away from work sharp at 5.30pm to make it for a seven o’clock start. Then after training it’s often been around at hour or more before I got home. Sometimes I’d hardly see my wife or family on those days.”

Smith has frequently been the target of approaches during his time with Folkestone.

He said: “They weren’t offering me anything different as regarding training. My wife knows I’m not keen on spending as much time in a car as I’ve been doing and often suggested to me that the only way I could change things was to pack up playing.

“Neil (Cugley) said was there anything he could do to get me to stay but like I said to him, he can’t move the club. I’ve loved it with Invicta – every season’s been different, even when we went down!

“I like the way that Folkestone play and get on well with everyone at the club so this was a pretty hard decision for me, especially after the supporters voted me player of the season last time.

“But I’m almost 36 now and can’t go on forever. The offer from Leatherhead came out of nowhere – there’s no way I was looking for it, but he (Richard Brady) had done his homework and knew that my only real problem was the time factor regarding training so their switch to Dartford made all the difference.”

Smith had a brief spell at Invicta in 2002/2003, making his debut in a fine 2-1 away win at Newport County. He rejoined the club on the recommendation of his former Gravesend team-mate Jimmy Jackson, making up a very effective trio alongside Jackson and Micheal Everitt.

In total he made 230 starts for Folkestone plus three substitute appearances, scoring 41 goals in all.

Manager Neil Cugley said: “Of course I’m disappointed to lose Smudger. He has been a very influential player for us and a great help around the club.

“I’m quite disappointed that this didn’t come up sooner, but these things happen and we’ll just get on with it.

“Jake Beecroft (a summer signing from Whitstable Town) can take over most of the dead ball situations. I’ll admit I was looking forward to seeing him play alongside Smudger, but that’s not now going to happen.

“But we’ve got plenty of midfielders around the club and it’s time for some of the younger lads to step up and take the responsibility. JV (Josh Vincent) likes playing centre midfield, and we’ve got Burchy (Josh Burchell), Matt Newman and Nat Blanks among others.

“It’s time now for some of those lads to show us that they can handle more responsibility – just as Dicko (Liam Dickson) has done defensively.

“Shane Hamshare is also going to train with us pre-season again. He was unsure about whether he would go back to the States to work with his dad (former Folkestone legend Chris Hamshare) but now looks likely to stay here in Kent.”

Former Folkestone Invicta striker James Dryden has also asked Cugley if he can join up pre-season to get himself fit.

 “All in all we’ll have 22 players – possibly more – for pre-season so it’s up to them how they come through it” said boss Cugley. “Players come and go – it’s a fact of life in football so we move on.”
Off the field, things remain totally upbeat.

Cugley added: “We’ve already sold more season tickets than last at this time last year and work on the pitch is progressing well - it’s a good time to be around the club and I feel very positive about the way things are going.”

Folkestone kick-off their pre-season programme on July 13 at Ashford United – newly-elected to the Kent League, followed by a trip to FA Vase finalists Tunbridge Wells the following Saturday.

Cugley said: “I’d quite like one more game that week as I’ve got a more players to look at than I usually have – we’ll have to what’s around.”

ARTICLE UPDATE:
Dartford Football Club confirm that they have received no approach from Leatherhead FC about them using the training facilities at Princes Park.  Leatherhead FC must be using another facility in the town. www.kentishfootball.co.uk apologise for any confusion caused in our twitter feed.

Visit Folkestone Invicta’s website: www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk