We need to be in the South purely for the financial aspect, says Chatham Town boss Kevin Watson

CHATHAM TOWN player-manager Kevin Watson says the club are suffering playing in what the club insist is the wrong division.

The Medway outfit finished last season second-from-bottom in the Ryman League Division One South and their punishment was not to be relegated but to be placed in the Ryman League Division One North.

It could be argued that the Kent club could have attracted bigger gates in the Kent League this season than the graveyard that is the Ryman League Division One North.

Chatham finished their campaign with a clinical 4-0 away win to Redbridge last night, courtesy of goals from Lee Hales (penalty), Garry Tilley, a 35-yard lob from substitute Joe Fuller and a quality 25-yard free-kick from Lloyd Blackman.

The game attracted a woeful attendance of just 45 to Redbridge’s Oakside Stadium, which is adjacent to Barkingside tube station.

They finished in fifteenth-place in the table, with 54 points from 42 games and the club were the eighth best supported club in the division with average crowds of 131 to the Maidstone Road Sports Ground.  The eighth best supported club in Ryman League Division One South are Eastbourne Town, who averaged gates of 189.

Watson, 30, said: “I think the club needs to be in the South.  I’ll be honest, it didn’t bother me too much but just purely for the financial aspects of getting people through the gates, which a club at this level relies on heavily and support base we need to be in the South.”

Three of the four relegated clubs from the Ryman Premier League are Southern based, with Leatherhead, Tooting & Mitcham and Horsham dropping down, with Aveley the only one expected to return to the Northern Division.

There is speculation going around that Maidstone United or Sittingbourne could join Chatham Town and Thamesmead Town in the Northern Division next season.

And while the Stones would cope with life in the Northern Division, with regular four-figure crowds expected at their new stadium, Sittingbourne will certainly struggle financially if they were to switch divisions.

But Watson feels the Kent clubs should all be in the same division next season – Ryman League Division One South.

He said:  “I understand geographically it works like that but ultimately there’s teams down the road that end up in the South and we end up in the North.  It will be a nice solution (to switch divisions) but it’s possible we’ll end up in the North again.

“That’s out of our hands but to a certain extent unless we get promoted, which would be quite nice and it wouldn’t matter.”

Chairman Jeff Talbot, said in a recent interview, “My money is that we’ll be in the North again next season.  I am pretty fed up with it on two levels.  There is the issue with us being in the North division and then our fixtures always seem to fit nicely alongside Gillingham home games.

“I am sick to my back teeth of having to go to the leagues and the FA every season.  It seems like a slow death in the North and it is a real struggle.  We are missing out on derby matches and bigger gates that come with it.”

Mr Talbot added: “Running a ground for a season costs between £25,000-£30,000 a year.  People say a gate for 120 for 22 matches is fine but when just eighty people are paying and maybe only twenty of those are adults you can see where the problems are.”

And Watson said last night that he would like to strengthen his squad in numbers next season, having only added goalkeeper Tim Roberts (from Sittingbourne) and target-man Blackman from his home-town club, Hythe Town, during the course of the season.

“We need to build on this year,” said Watson.  “We’ve set ourselves a platform and we just need to keep building.

“We need to keep a lot of things that’s occurred this season, some of the pattern of play and quality of football.  We’ll have to have a look at personnel. We’ve got quite a small squad at the moment so we’ll certainly look to bring some additions in over pre-season but some players have done well so they’ll have a right for us to have a look at them next season.”

Visit Chatham Town’s website: www.chathamtownfc.net  

Chairman quotes courtesy of www.footballwebpages.co.uk