Q&A with Steve Webb

By Andrew Finch

With an eighth of the league campaign now completed, how do you assess our chances of mounting a title challenge?

I did say in the recent programme that we feel that we are getting towards having a decent squad of players who could push up into the higher reaches of the league. It is well documented that our local rivals Chertsey are throwing money around and they have got off to a storming start, albeit only managing a draw at home on Tuesday, and with only one team going up it will be a difficult task for all the other sides to keep pace if they are able to just add players as and when they require. However, we will do our best to try and win as many games as we can and see if their bubble bursts, and hope to capitalise. It must be said that I really think people here under-estimate the sides in this league and do not realise that there are a lot of decent set ups and that anyone in the top 10 is capable of mounting a reasonable challenge. Recent forum comments about Badshot Lea were rather unjust, referring to them as a team who only recently played on a park pitch. They pay fortunes for Farnborough, have a fairly wealthy chairman, and have a purpose built 1.5 million set up on the horizon, so are no park side. Ashford (Middx) used to play on a park pitch, and look what they are achieving now. What we are doing is trying our best to get players down here within the budget and hope that we can be one of those pushing for the top.

Do you feel under pressure to deliver results?

The main pressure I have is on myself, as I have been given the task of giving the club a positive lift this season. I am acutely aware of the problems we have and want to do my best to ensure that the football is enjoyed by all of us, whilst games are won on a regular basis. I spoke with a senior committee member after the Bank Holiday game and it was made perfectly clear that the club understood that we would not really be expecting promotion first time round, certainly in view of the paying budgets around other clubs, but that we want some sense of improvement all round and to be challenging in or around the top half of the league. The truth is that this is a realistic viewpoint, although that will not stop us wanting to be pushing the Chertseys' of this world.

How much of a relief was it to finally get a home win?

It was nice to do so, then follow it with another one on Tuesday, because hopefully we can now move on. The truth is that if we then go on another winless run, it will mean nothing. The big plus hit home to me when one of the players, who is new to the club this season, said that at last he could stop being reminded about the statistic that had nothing to do with him, so clearly it had an effect on the players.

Are there plans in place to achieve promotion back to the Ryman League?  If so are these plans short, medium or long term?

I think the answer to (2) above covers some of this. Having been members of the Isthmian League for so long, it is obviously a level that we want to get back into. At present the money scenario makes this league a more realistic one to compete in, but we must all strive to get back up into the Ryman as soon as possible. The view that positive consolidation this season is acceptable seems sensible, but we would than have to work seriously hard to ensure that we build on that the following season and make a major challenge for top spot. By then the factors such as money etc will have less bearing, as we should have a real handle on what is actually required to win the league and can strive to achieve this. That would be my personal view on how we should be looking future-wise.

Have any players surprised you with their performances?

I did give a special mention to Rob Lewis in the programme, as I have been really impressed with his step up to this level, plus his whole attitude. However, the players have shown great commitment all through the pre - season and beyond and I have been pleasantly surprised by how good a bunch of players we have been able to assemble. How they now cope with the different styles they will come across over the season will be the next test, as they are quite young and it is almost inevitable that we will have the odd stumble against one of the so called “lesser” teams. You may have picked players out and been either impressed or not, but most of them have been doing okay, with a lot more to come I am sure. There must be something working, as I am aware today that we have a few lads being looked at, with a view to possibly tempting them away, which is clearly something I hope they ignore.

Matt Baxter and Moses Spencer seem to have appeared sporadically, are they exclusively our players or are they on dual registration?

I cannot quite agree with sporadically in Matt's case. His debut was at Wick and he was unable to play on the Bank Holiday due to prior work commitments. Other than that he has played every game since he signed and he is not dual registered. He chose to leave Ashford after many years there and I spoke with Mark Butler the next day and he joined us. Moses initially played the first game to help us out, as we did not have a centre half available that day, then had other matters to deal with. The Bank Holiday game was another work thing, and he has been available since. Again, Moses is signed for us in the same way as all the others. What we have had is a large amount of players unavailable on a regular basis and this is something that has been a problem for us, but we seem to be getting a settled squad now and I hope we can now kick on. Once we are settled and know what our aims are we can progress.

Will the FA Cup defeat have an effect on the clubs budget/finances?

Not that I am aware of although, with me attending games this week on Monday and Tuesday, there has not been a lot of time to talk to anyone. We obviously earned £750 in the previous round and I presume this was put into the club funds. Being an accountant by trade, I would say it would be unwise for anyone to rely on cup money to cover costs, so I would not expect this to have any bearing on the budget. Although I have made reference to money earlier, I do not feel that this should be as big a hindrance as last season, it is just that if one club has a massive cash resource available and can persuade Ryman Premier players to play for one season to get them out of the league, they must be clear favourites for the top spot.