Kentish Football 
We want to go up to the Ryman League, says Herne Bay chairman
Wednesday 15th December 2010
HERNE BAY chairman John Bathurst says Simon Halsey is the man to guide the club out of the Kent League at the end of the season, writes Stephen McCartney.
The diminutive Mr Bathurst, who has been chairman for 10 years, appointed Halsey just over a year ago, following a successful time at arch-rivals Whitstable Town, where as Marc Seagers’ number two, the pair claimed a string of trophies and guided the club into the Ryman League.
Halsey took charge of Herne Bay in November 2009 and secured the club’s first trophy for over 10 years when they defeated Sevenoaks Town to clinch the Kent League Cup.
And last weekend a 2-0 win over Colliers Wood United set up a potential clash against back-to-back winners Whitley Bay in the LAST 32 of the FA Carlsberg Vase on 22 January 2011 and they are also sitting at the top of the Kent League table.
Mr Bathurst, who was speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk, paid tribute to Halsey’s professionalism.
He said: “He’s absolutely fantastic. He’s very dedicated. He does expect a lot but all manager’s do that. He expects everything to be done and ready for him but you’ve got to realise everybody at the club’s volunteers, we all do our bit, we haven’t got enough volunteers and sometimes we have to ease him off a bit and rule the roost, but he’s done a fantastic job.
“He gets the players motivated, we’ve got a big squad here this year and to keep these players all motivated, even though they’re going to be sitting on the bench, is just tremendous. How he does it, I just don’t know!”
Mr Bathurst added: “This is his first number one, he’s always been number two in the past so he hasn’t had to do this but I think he’s doing it with aplomb, he really is!
“The players all respect him - if he says ‘sorry, you’re on the bench this week‘, there’s a good reaction, they’re on the bench. A good example is Nathan Eastwood. Up at Holmesdale he was man-of-the-match, played his heart out, got his opportunity to play, comes here (for the Colliers Wood game), obviously expecting to start, and was told ‘sorry, Nath you’re on the bench,’ and he got three minutes.
“But that’s what it is at the club at the moment. Everybody’s really buoyant.”
Herne Bay travel to mid-table Deal Town on Saturday for a Kent League game, sitting proudly at the summit with seven wins and five draws from 13 games - although there are five other sides within five points.
Herne Bay are one of those football clubs that are playing at a level that they shouldn’t be.
Mr Bathurst agreed, saying, “We’ve made that clear that we want to go up to the Ryman. We want to give it a try.
“We’ve had five attempts in the past where we’ve won promotion five times and no-ones ever taken it. If we’d have been up there we would have stayed there but now it’s difficult to get out of this league.
“I know, we’ve got big challenges from Hythe, they want the same thing, they want to go up and we’ve got to try and beat them. Hopefully we can!”
Visit Herne Bay’s website: www.hernebayfc.net
Deal Town v Herne Bay
Safety Net Associates Kent League
Saturday 18th December 2010
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Charles Sports Ground, St Leonards Road, Deal, Kent CT14 9BE
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd