‘I knew we could do something special’ – delighted Hamm toasts Steyning Town’s SCFL title win
Steyning Town boss Michael Hamm toasted the club’s Southern Combination trophy and promotion back to the Isthmian League and said: I knew we could do something special.
The Barrowmen sealed the silver with a 2-0 win at Seaford Town on Saturday – and ended up winning the league by six points after Haywards Heath Town lost their final game at Eastbourne United.
It means an immediate return to the Isthmian South East a year after they were relegated from it, having made the same move to step four after winning the SCFK in 2023-24. This time, the clear aim will be to retain their new-found status.
Hamm is proud of everyone who has played a part in the title triumph on and off the field and told us: “It still hasn’t really sunk in yet, I think it was more relief when the final whistle went Saturday but overall I’m absolutely ecstatic. You go through so many emotions in a football season, and I’m not going to lie – I was close to tears.
"The club, players and management put so much trust in me, especially with it being my first season as a manager – I’m just glad that I didn’t let anyone down.
"It’s such a special club with special people . This club has the infrastructure to be a step four side and the people around the club deserve it for there thankless tasks week in week out.”
It looked in the first half of the season as though Haywards Heath would romp to the title – they began the season with 17 straight wins.
Hamm said: “Being completely honest and I said it to the lads around October/November time, Haywards Heath won’t sustain it and we will catch them.
“We always believed it. What goes up must come down and winning 17 in a row I knew there would be an almighty crash when they did finally lose. It was a similar thing for them last season when they started really well but weren’t able to sustain it over a season.
"We were a totally new group – it was going to take a few months for us to figure each other out and build relationships within the team so to go from 14 points behind to winning the league by six points is absolutely incredible.
"I think the real turning point of the season was when we went unbeaten from October to the end of January – we clicked and then we just went rolling.
"Some games were tight but we never looked like losing. That kept the pressure on Haywards Heath and then I think it was about mid/late February that we went top for the first time in the season and never looked back.
"Then from that point we were not only churning out performances with goals but keeping clean sheets. In our last 11 games we had seven clean sheets. That’s the character, experience and togetherness in the side."
Hamm was quick to pay tribute to the many people who made the title dream come true.
"It goes without saying that this isn’t a one man band over here, we are all together as a management team, so although it’s my name on the door we all have the same level of input,” he said.
"Jamie Hollis has been exceptional, his level of coaching is the best I’ve seen – no-one deserves this title more than him after what happened at Lancing, the football we play is down to Jamie and his coaching.
"We are very luckiy to have Tim Jones, who bleeds red and white, first team coach, kit man, under-16 manager, he embodies what Steyning Community FC is all about.
"Keira and Danny, our physio and goalie coach, have been brilliant. We are not a massive management set-up but we are tight-knit and all working in the same direction.
"We have so many key players that I would be unfair to single any out but as I said to the players at the start of this journey – it’s not about you or me, it’s about us and we will do it our way together."
And Steyning have not finished yet – they are in the Peter Bentley Cup final, and face Little Common in the showpiece game at Peacehaven next Monday.
"To win the double would be the cherry on top, but like we’ve been all season it’s important that we prepare ourselves the best we can,” Hamm said.
"Little Common offer different problems to other sides in this league so we will look to control the tempo early.
"Looking back at our season we took step two side Tonbridge to a replay in the FA Cup, unfortunately went out of the Vase on penalties, a cup final and a 20-point turnaround to win the league.
"I’m extremely proud what what we have achieved. We never put a label on what was possible but when we turned up to the first session of pre-season and you looked at the ability and character in the side, I knew we could do something special.”