Eastbourne Borough bosses set out stall – and National South title is their serious aim
“We want to set the standard for non-league football!” Eastbourne Borough owner Simon Leslie’s countdown to the new season is under way with the strongest possible statement of intent.
Last Thursday night was General Election night, of course – but in the Langney Sports clubhouse, the questions were fired not at parliamentary hopefuls but at candidates for promotion. Eastbourne Borough have the National South title in their sights.
Around a hundred members of the Borough Supporters Club had taken up the offer of a Q&A with Simon Leslie, and with CEO Alan Williams and manager Adam Murray. And what they heard was, quite simply, a blueprint for the title.
Football supporters are used to tempering their dreams and ambitions with a dose of sober realism. The ten months ahead will see the Sports play over fifty competitive matches and cover more than five thousand tedious miles on the road. The season just completed – Simon Leslie’s first since his take-over – might not have gone to plan, but the owner is unabashed.
“That was the dress rehearsal. Yes, it was a false start, but we have learned. We are stronger now in every department.”
Borough retained their National South status last season with just 48 hours to spare. Other results went their way in a dramatic final week, and Adam Murray’s men celebrated with a champagne victory at promoted Braintree Town in the last fixture.
Priory Lane fans had experienced almost every emotion, from curiosity through scepticism to belief, from elation to depression and back again. The pivotal point had come at Christmas, when beleaguered manager Mark Beard ran out of road with a frankly inadequate squad, and parted company with the club after double defeat against Sussex rivals Worthing.
His replacement, Murray, then proved himself Leslie’s best signing by far. Team-rebuilding, planning, man-management and match-management: Adam has steered Borough to survival and, to those who have known Eastbourne Borough through the decades, he probably ranks among the top three managers in the club’s history. Adam now plans for success.
“I’d won a title at AFC Fylde (in National North) but a relegation battle was new to me. I dragged in my old gaffer Stuart Watkiss, all the way down from Grimsby, as assistant manager. We have a fantastic off-field team, from analyst to conditioning coach. Now we look ahead.”
CEO Alan Williams agrees. “We are now in the position where players are pitching themselves to us. The quality of players we are signing is phenomenal. They want to be a part of the project.
“The players have come back fit, they’ve hit their targets and their levels are phenomenal – this week they were running a kilometre in three minutes – that’s Premier League levels!”
It was quite an evening. The typical pre-season Q&A can often be bland – “We’ll be there or thereabouts” – and sometimes evasive – “We’re talking to another midfielder”. But this one was remarkably open and detailed: a clear statement not simply of the club’s ambitions, but of how they are planning to get there.
Leslie – twelve months on from his then-controversial take-over, now clearly has the supporters fully onside. And, responding to a range of questions from the floor, he and Williams are just as ready for the gritty details as for the blue-sky thinking.
Plans for the stadium? A major new stand on the north side of the ground (subject to planning permission) and a new hybrid playing surface next summer. Parking and traffic management? Active discussions with club partner Stagecoach about a possible park-and-ride scheme. Community sport? Well, Borough have an incredible 86 walking footballers, and youth players in their hundreds. Mental health? A new Well-Being Centre is in the plans.
Club profile? A new business documentary in the pipeline, on how a football club is run. Oh, and balancing the books? Simon has two or three new business partners to announce shortly. Oh, and he is targeting a regular home attendance of 2,000 through the turnstiles – up from a very healthy 1,650 last season.
And that, however many fans’ forums you host, is the statistic that matters. The Sports will open their National South campaign on 10th August, entertaining newly-promoted Chesham United. And the current clutch of friendlies continues tomorrow (Saturday) with a game against Hashtag United (3pm).