We can compete at Conference South level we just need a bit of help, says Tonbridge Angels chairman

TONBRIDGE ANGELS chairman Steve Churcher says he wants Tommy Warrilow to stay as manager after securing the club’s Conference South status last night.


The Angels collected their 45^th point in their penultimate game when they played out an uninspiring 1-1 draw against ten-man Eastbourne Borough at Longmead Stadium.

Eastbourne took the lead seven minutes into the second half when Jamie Smith scored from 25-yards, before they had defender Ollie Rowe red-carded for an ugly off-the-ball incident with Ollie Schulz in the 62^nd minute.

Tonbridge Angels ensured that Conference South football will be played for a third season in August when David Ijaha scored his fifth-goal for the club with fifteen minutes left to grab the point that they needed to relegate AFC Hornchurch.

The Urchins won promotion from the Ryman Premier League via the play-off’s last season – and along with champions Billericay Town – fell through the trap door.

“I’m delighted that we’ve finally got the point we needed and delighted for everyone involved in the club,” said Mr Churcher.

“We should’ve put it to bed a long time ago.  That elusive point has been tough coming, but I’m really pleased for everyone involved especially Tommy and the lads.  They’ve done their bit this year. It’s good to get across the line.  I didn’t want to it on Saturday – that would’ve been too tense. It was bad enough last night. I’m really pleased and I’m absolutely delighted.”

The Angels, who secured promotion following two epic home games against Harrow Borough and Lowestoft Town in the Ryman Premier League play-offs, finishing their inaugural Conference South campaign in ninth-place last season, but go into their last game of this season sitting in the bottom four.

But the difference between playing Conference football compared to the Ryman (Isthmian) Football League is obvious.

“Someone said to me the club’s going backwards this year,” added Mr Churcher.

“I think the first team flag-ship would’ve been good to be higher up but actually as a club we’ve got the third-year coming up with the Academy.  We’ve got a community scheme now that we’re backing 100%.  We’ve got a grant from the Conference on that and we’ve opened negotiations with the council to develop Longmead.

“All in all the flagship’s not struggled. We just couldn’t get that point that we needed but the club moves on, most definitely.

“You only have to look at Hornchurch and Billericay that have gone back down. It’s getting tougher and tougher to stay in this league and we can’t be complacent.  We’re going to meet with Tommy afterwards, calm down, and work out what we’re going to do next year.”

Warrilow said last night that he wants strength-in-depth – but all that costs money but his chairman said: “We’ll back him 100% as much as we can. At the same time, I think I probably said to you three years’ ago, we’re not going to bankrupt the club doing it because we’re going to do it our way.

“I think we’ve already decided as a club that we want to be a community club with an Academy.  We’re blessed having blue chip sponsors like Hadlow College and it’s a question of growth really.  If we stay at this level, great.

“As of today we don’t have an overdraft.  You hear all the stories about clubs owe people left, right and centre and what club’s are paying on their wages. It makes you wonder what on earth we’re doing at this level but we are and we’ll enjoy it.”

Mr Churcher insists Warrilow will be the club’s manager next season.

“Yes, always has been for me, 100%

“A lot of people don’t give Tommy the credit that he deserves for attracting the sort of players we’ve got here.

“I gave a newspaper interview the other week.  No doubt. No doubts whatsoever.  I’m so pleased for him today. Most people don’t see what goes on during the week.  They don’t see the effort, the time that goes into running this football club.

“There’s a lot of people that give up their time freely. It’s not about the first team. There’s a little army of people of people who give up their time voluntary and those are the unsung heroes that enables us to compete at this level. If we had to pay them all we just couldn’t do it.  I’m pleased for everybody.”

The chairman was then asked his aspirations for next season.

“I don’t want to leave it so late,” said Mr Churcher.  “I think Tom was talking to you the other week when he said there’s a different side of it when you’re struggling. You find out who your friends are and those that disappear.

“I don’t know how I’d like to think we’d be able to compete. A lot depends who comes in. I was slightly surprised that Hornchurch and Billericay went straight back down.

“You can’t be complacent. I think that gap will carry on being wider.  Can we sustained this level? Yes, I think we can.  We’ve got the set-up. We just have to develop the rest of the club.”

Mr Churcher paid tribute to the Barmy Army, who gave their heroes excellent support on a night that they needed it the most.

“Overall the crowds have been over budget,” revealed the chairman.

“People talk about averages and our average is down. Last year we had Woking and Dartford, who brought a good away support.  Billericay and Hornchurch necessarily don’t travel that well so our fans have been terrific all the way through. They’ve supported the club all the way.  They were brilliant again last night, non-stop (support) from start to finish.

“It will be lovely to have a few more, course it would. Next year with the community scheme we’ll have schools of the month and everything else, trying to encourage the youngsters down there and that’s where we see ourselves placed in the community.

“We’re currently awaiting a response from the local council with our ideas redeveloping Longmead and that can be another exciting part of the jigsaw that we’re trying to piece together.  There’s a lot of things going on behind the scenes.”

The Angels travel to Ebbsfleet United in the Kent Senior Cup (Sponsored by Portablefloodlights.com) Semi-Finals on Thursday night, with the winners facing Charlton Athletic in the showpiece final.

Tonbridge Angels have won the silverware on two occasions, the last time being in 1975, although they were runners-up on three occasions, the last time coming in 2007, when they lost the final to Bromley at Hayes Lane.

Mr Churcher wants Warrilow’s warriors to emulate the club’s reserve side.

He said: “It would be fantastic wouldn’t it? Tommy has always taken the Kent Senior Cup seriously and it’s always been a first team squad.

“It would be great because the reserves have won the Kent Intermediate Cup again. I think that might be three of the last four years for them so they’ve done fantastically well so it would be nice for the first team to follow.

“The final is a good day out. We’ll have a very good presentation evening regardless. There’s a lot of positives to take out of the season.  I think the club’s learnt from it. Tommy’s learnt a lot. It can only be good for the football club overall.”

The Angels complete their league campaign with a home game against basement side Truro City on Saturday - and then it’s a case of bringing in as much funds as they can to be in a position to hand Warrilow a competitive playing budget for next season.

The club stages Angelfest – the biggest beer and music festival in the area – at Longmead Stadium over this weekend, which is free to attend.

On Saturday 4 May, The Skatonics – who have been playing to enthusiastic crowds since 2007 and are rapidly becoming one of the best Ska bands in the UK, play at Longmead Stadium, with an entrance fee being £5.

The club then holds the third West Kent Garden and Leisure Show at Longmead Stadium between 18-19 May.

Mr Churcher said: “The next month we’ve got four or five functions here week after week and hopefully they’ll be well supported by people in the town. You don’t have to be a football fan to enjoy a beer festival or enjoy The Skatonics here the week after. It’s the third year we’ve done the Garden and Leisure show and it has become a massive fund raiser for us and long may it continue. Hopefully the weather is kind to us.”

Mr Churcher added: “There’s a lot of fuss about budgets.  Tom knew what our budget was at the start of last season.  We increased it because he got a couple of players in. He approached us and asked if we can increase it and we said yes and we will constantly look at that on a monthly basis for ever.

“We’ll look at our liabilities and look at our income. I think this season, more than ever, we had seven or eight weeks before Christmas without a home game.  The home games were loaded into February and March when they’re going to be postponed.  A Tuesday night game generally speaking will lose us 20-30% of our revenue. It’s been tough all round.  You almost feel the season never got going. It’s been disjoined but overall I’m pleased for the lads and Tom.

“We’ve got work to do over the summer. I think everyone’s up for it and we can do it again, whatever the league’s going to be called.”

Mr Churcher calls on the local business world to come forward and support the club.

He said: “I think we can compete at this level. We just need a bit of help this side of the pitch.

“We talk about punching above our weight. I think that’s Tommy and the team. I think as a club we need to develop this side of it. We’ve still got portacabins but we need a new clubhouse. We need to develop this side.”

Mr Churcher is proud when it comes to the financial well-being of the Kent club.

“We’re no different from any other non-league football club.  As I stand here today we don’t have an overdraft facility with the bank. It’s all about cash flow and this season has killed us on cash flow.  You don’t get the money before Christmas, it all came in after Christmas and your revenue’s down. The next four to five weeks is very important for us.

“Darren Apps (our commercial manager) has done a fantastic job trying to attract people to Longmead Stadium that don’t necessarily like football. If they like beer, music and the Garden & Leisure Show, they are really important to us, vital at the end of the day, so long may that continue.”

When asked whether the club can follow their Kent neighbours Dartford and Welling United in the Conference Premier, Mr Churcher replied, “Can we? I’m not sure. I think as a club and me as chairman and the rest of the board of directors, we will do our utmost to stay at this level.  I think if there’s somebody else who would like to bring it further forward I think there’s no doubt the financial side is beyond us today. It doesn’t necessarily say it’s beyond us tomorrow.

“Last season when we were close to the play-off positions, Tom said to me what happens if we went up?  I said we’ll enjoy ourselves!

“I think you have to enjoy what you’re doing, otherwise there’s no point doing it. None of us get paid on the board.  We have to enjoy what we’re doing. Of course we want more people. We need more board members. We need people helping out on the commercial side. It’s difficult.

“There’s some big clubs at the next level above. You hear what they’re spending and the debs they have. Good luck to them.”

Visit Tonbridge Angels’ website: www.tonbridgeangelsonline.co.uk