George Dowell: Reaching National League is dream come true for Worthing – but it doesn’t have to be the last promotion

The co-owner – who saved Worthing when they were on the brink of extinction just over a decade ago – is still pinching himself at a dream being realised. But he is also saying something will excite Rebels fans further: This doesn’t need to be the ceiling.

Dowell, whose takeover came when Worthing were hanging on the then southern first division of the Isthmian League, has now seen them pronoted three times since then. And he wouldn’t mind a fourth one day.

But he admitted the rise to the National Premier League was plenty for the club to cope with for now, and he said everyone at the club was looking forward to the challenge in the top non-league division.

Dowell was at the centre of the celebrations as Worthing beat Ebbsfleet on Saturday and was one of the first people that many sought out when the final whistle signalled that the title and promotion were in the bag.

"It’s still a bit of a blur to be honest,” he said. “The final whistle went and there were people everywhere – it was amazing.

"The celebrations were great, though I did feel pretty rough on Sunday! But it was so nice that we did it at our home ground with 4,000 people there to see it. I’m sure Adam Hinshelwood would have liked to sew it up at Maidstone a week earlier but actually, you couldn’t have written a better script than winning it like that at home on the last day."

Dowell – a former Worthing youth player who saved the club with compensation from a car accident that left him disabled – said that when he first took over he wanted the club to get two promotions in five years to get into National South.

"I was only 22 and a bit naive and I didn;t really know the realities of what we could do,” he said. “First we had to stabilise and get a squad together. Then it was about getting out of that league.”

They reached the Isthmian Premier quickly – but with Covid, lockdowns and two unfinished seasons, it took them until 2022 to get from the Isthmian Premier to National South. It’s taken them four seasons to make the next step up – though they reached the play-offs in each of their previous attempts.

Dowell said: “As soon as we got to National South, I was thinking ‘what’s the ceiling?’ Obvously National Premier was the next step but now I am thinking ‘why should it have to end here?’.

"There’s no reason a town the size of Worthing can’t have a Football League club. You have to aim high and stay ambitious.”

That said, Dowell is all too aware that consolidation must come first in what is a very competitive National Premier division, which boasts many former Football League clubs and plenty of teams with huge playing budgets.

There have been teams who have gone up from step two to one and gone back down pretty rapidly, so avoiding that fate comes first.

"It will be tough and we have to be realistic. We won’t be winning most weeks, like we have been, but Hinsh has managed at this level and will know what’s required and Jon Meeney (Hinshelwood’s No2) has assisted at that level,” said Dowell.

"I think we’ll have a sold-out ground a lot of the time – there will be more away fans coming with a lot of those clubs – and for our fans it’s new teams to play, including a lot of famous football names, and new away grounds to go to.”