Cutting their cloth has put Eastbourne Borough in healthy state

David Blackmore says the way they ‘cut their cloth’ to deal with financial issues BEFORE the Covid pandemic changed the football landscape has put them in a good position now restrictions are ending.

The Sports operated with a smaller playing budget for the 2020-21 season than they had been used to.

But boss Danny Bloor his backroom team and his squad worked wonders, sitting third in the National League South table and on course for the play-offs when an early end was called to the campaign.

Blackmore told us they’d love to repeat that success next year and with Bloor and a support staff of five having signed new contracts, confidence was high at Priory Lane.

But he agreed with Bloor’s statement in the paper last week that survival at step two was the first aim, and anything better than that was a bonus. And he pledged that the budget would not be altered so much that the club would be stretched financially.

Blackmore said: “We’re still disappointed we weren’t able to play the 20-21 season to a conclusion, but in my mind we still had one of the most successful seasons we have had for a while.

“We ‘finished’ third and got to the first round of the FA Cup, but now we are very much looking forward, and I can report that we are in a very good position ahead of next season. We’ve worked incredibly hard over the past 18 months to get to where we are now.

“We have shown what we can do with a greatly-reduced budget and in Danny we appointed someone who’s much more than just a manager.

“The atmosphere in the changing room has been superb. It’s the most harmonious camp we’ve ever had. And, funnily enough, even though fans haven’t been able to come to games, our interaction with them is stronger than ever.

“We’ve got back to using and developing local football talent . I call it ‘back to the future’. We put in place a model to get us out of difficulties and it has served us well. Now we must continue to be sensible, and aim for a season where we are not looking over our shoulders in the table.”