Today we welcome League 2 Crawley Town to the Mangata Developments Stadium for what we hope will be an exciting FA Cup 1st Round Proper match up. Can I wish their Directors, Manager, players and supporters a pleasant stay with us and a safe journey home.
When the draw was first made and I saw we’d drawn Crawley Town at home, my mind immediately went back to the 2005/6 season when we plied our trade way down in the Southern League Eastern Division and I remembered us causing a big shock back then by beating Crawley 2-0 at their place to book a place in the last 16 of the FA Trophy. Mr John Hollins of Chelsea, Arsenal and QPR fame was their manager back then and in truth Crawley were possibly the biggest non- league club out there at that time.
They certainly aspired to be a Football League club and achieved promotion in the 2010/11season. In truth both clubs have come a long way since 2006, so to be playing Crawley Town once again some 19 years later, even though we’ve won three promotions since, is quite ironic.
As we all do when a cup draw is made, you start looking at your opponents, you look at their form, their squad, ex-players if any, and I could clearly see that Crawley Town are in a period of transition, are still a well backed football club, have a new if ex-manager back in charge and have relatively new owners. That said, they will possibly feel they have not started the season in the manner they had hoped for and will no doubt look to today to get their season back on track. In truth if I was a Crawley supporter, I know I would have found drawing a poorly supported club like Boreham Wood away completely uninspiring.
As such I’m happy, because it feels just like it did some 19 years ago and we again get another free hit at todays’ opponents with absolutely no pressure on us. This time though there is just one league between our two clubs instead of the three as it was back in 2005/6. Also, if there’s a good omen for us from way back then, it’s that we won that game and went on to win the league that season – I’m just saying haha.
This season we’ve started our league programme very well and after winning 3-0 away in the FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round down at Eastbourne Borough confidence is high. For me it’s a great feeling just being able to say that as the two previous seasons to this one has felt like I’d been suffocated with pressure and self-doubt for completely differing reasons.
The pressure two seasons ago for a local Chairman was almost unbearable as we were relegated and it felt like I’d let my friends, family, supporters and town down and that was soul destroying. The pressure on us last season continued, as it was all about redemption and righting the wrongs of the previous season and luckily we came good and capped off what was a crazy season with a memorable play off promotion win that in truth has lifted a huge weight off my shoulders.
As such, we started this season with no expectation or pressure on us and have played some great football to date. We’ve possibly surprised ourselves and certainly surprised others and it’s meant we’ve played pressure free football and with a third of the season gone we are free flowing, exciting to watch and with no unrealistic expectations put on us. it feels great.
For a small community club with an average home attendance of around 1,100, it’s mad to have the best home record within the National League at present. It’s a very nice feeling of course but it’s testament to the hard work of my staff, Luke Garrard and our dressing room.
For me even this early on, it’s good to know that we’re not going down this season, as we already sit very nicely in the play-off places and again that means no pressure. So, In truth after 27 seasons in the Chair, I just feel energised and positive about everything we’re doing at the moment, and I’m truly so thankful to my inner circle, loyal staff, dressing room, sponsors, long standing partners and of course you our supporters for sticking with us and for backing our football club especially over the last two years.
Let’s be honest, our progress over the past 6 months has surprised us all after our self-destruct relegation just 18 months ago. Our recovery since has been painful at times, as our form last season was patchy in large parts but it ultimately came good and led to a successful if crazy late promotion charge.
In truth people often think it amusing (Chris Griggs) when I say “God loves a trier” but I’ve always had faith, and still have faith in what I’m doing here and if my prayers get answered, I believe you don’t over analyse things, you just embrace the moment and thank your lucky stars for small mercies.
As a slightly cautious Chairman who wouldn’t want to tempt fate, I’m quietly hoping that Lady Luck will again look kindly on us all today. and If that is the case, we just might just give our supporters another magic moment or two this afternoon, or even better deliver another FA Cup upset and with that another shared memory.
For that to happen our dressing room must understand we are still that same underdog football club that I took over in1999, and we need to be at it from minute one. After 27 seasons here often breaking the bank to fund a non-league football club, you do learn to simply enjoy these type of FA Cup days. In truth success often comes down to the energy of the fans, the turn out of the town, the interest from the wider community and the belief and desire of the dressing room.
So, I hope we take this opportunity to treat this game as if we’re in the last chance saloon and collectively leave it all on the pitch. I hope we create the noise and atmosphere we’ll need on the North Bank, because to overcome in the FA Cup and be in the hat on Saturday night is a truly joyous feeling, but you must earn the right to experience the glory that a cup upset gives you especially against football league opposition. I’ve learned as an underdog club that you must never fear defeat, as defeat is part of the game. So, let’s put self-doubt aside as doubt leads to negativity and negativity creates fear.
As an underdog club, we’ll try to do what we always do for these type of games, we’ll keep our emotions in check, we’ll try to picture what victory might look like and we’ll try to create a fearless culture for Luke and our dressing room to thrive, as it enables manager, players, staff and everyone to do their jobs with freedom and it creates an environment where cup upsets are possible.
In recent years that no fear recipe has brought us incredible memories and a lot of cup success. It’s also brought big cup upsets against a host of league clubs including Bristol Rovers and AFC Bournemouth away from home. On top of that we’ve also beaten very good teams like Blackpool, Southend United (when they were a league club) and AFC Wimbledon here.
Those type of cup wins have rightly earned us a reputation for being a hard-working football club who on occasion rise to the challenge. In truth we simply embrace the FA Cup because we love what the FA Cup has given our football club, our fans, our town and our community. It’s why we honestly don’t fear losing anymore and today will be no exception.
For context though, we do know how to lose with good grace, as we’ve also been on the end of some really tough losses over the last decade or so and I feel that pain has helped shape us. Those defeats over the years include some late replay defeats at some very tough places like Notts County, Accrington Stanley and Carlisle United, and a painful penalty shootout defeat last season against Leyton Orient.
The games mentioned above have all occurred with me in the Chair here and with Luke Garrard at my side, either as manager, assistant manager or as a player. So, trust me when I say, we will look forward to today with belief and if on the day we’re not quite good enough then so be it, we’ll simply wipe our mouths and wish Crawley Town and their supporters huge, good luck in the next round.
Luke will no doubt have game plan A, B and C in his mind, that said he can also use his vast cup experience and recall our incredible 1-0 win a few years back at a great football club like AFC Bournemouth. That win led to our amazing FA Cup 5th Round trip to Everton at Goodison Park, where we lost 2-0 under the lights in front of 40,000 supporters.
Those big community moments are one of the ingredients that create the magic of the FA Cup and it shows everyone what a united club and its town can bring to the table. Our recent relegation of course was a huge setback to us after almost two decades of progress and for me that acted as a huge wake up call.
I’m just very grateful that so many of the very loyal ‘Wood Army’ gave us your support and understanding over the last two seasons. That allowed me, Ciara Dyer, Luke Garrard, Charlie Hunter, Billy Hunter, Mandee Morris, Grant Morris, Loretta Browne, my inner circle, my loyal staff, our sponsors and my partners to re-set our football club and over the last 12 months our work ethic and underdog mentality returned, and your patience was thankfully rewarded.
If I’m being honest your patience allowed us to start again and along with Luke and Charlie Hunter over the last 18 months we quietly started to rebuild the dressing room and its staff into what we hoped would be another talented, hard-working group, with a good mix of exciting players both young and experienced and we feel the squad is now strong.
So, whether we win or lose today, let’s thank our lucky stars for where we are, let’s fear nothing, let’s fight the good fight and if my prayers are answered (Chris Griggs) and Lady Luck shines down on us, I’ll no doubt see you in the Glass House for a cold beer and we can enjoy yet another shared memory.
If we’ve lost then let’s accept it with good grace and I ask that you show our players and our opponents your respect and appreciation at the end of the game for their efforts, as that’s what the FA Cup is all about.
Our EFL ambitions are of course very real and that means we must complete the South end of the ground in a timely fashion (visuals are attached to these notes). This means we will need to agree boundary lines with HBC and start the new away entrance and fan zone groundworks before the end of this season. With that in mind I have already started to finalise a provisional works programme and schedule but it’s already clear to me that we must look at phase 1 (fan zone and fans access) and phase 2 (South Stand and Grounds Building) as two separate projects.
This in truth will take us a little longer to complete but it might be the most logical, cost effective and affordable way for us to move forward. So, If we can get our pre-build programme, reports and consultants on point quickly and get our funding bids completed before Christmas, then we might be back on schedule, but that’s a very tall order and is at present looking very unlikely.
That said, if we can get the HBC planners to inform us early about any of their concerns, then we can prepare for any setbacks or time delays with some behind closed door meetings to positively work through any issues. Of course, we’ll need everyone’s support on this and that will include HBC’s Chief Executive, the Leader of the Council and all Councillors across the aisle. Only if we are united off the pitch can we achieve our ambitions on it……………….our ambitions are simple, we wish to build a covered four sided stadium and away fan zone ready for us to one day enter the Football League and while doing that we want to build ourselves a football team that’s good enough to take us there.
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Anyway, that’s enough of new build talk, let’s get back to the job in hand and that means picturing the glory of an FA Cup 1st Round Proper victory and the small matter of trying to overcome a very good Crawley Town team. Today gives both clubs the chance of making memories, of making club history and the chance to create more FA Cup magic for their supporters.
So, I say “to the victor the spoils”. We as a club go into this game today knowing we have everything to gain and absolutely nothing to lose and I genuinely believe if our town turns out this afternoon and backs its football club, then it’s a game we can win.
Myself, Luke and our supporters have been in these situations many times and we know how much we love these FA Cup occasions. We know we’ll need our supporters with us from minute one. We know we’ll need the drum, your energy and the noise. We also know we’ll need the North Bank to create a cup atmosphere before kick-off and we know if the ‘Wood Army’ turn up and fill the North Bank, if the Town turns out and fills the West and East Stand then you’ve given us a fantastic platform to win a football match.
Lastly, whoever you support let’s hope for an open, attacking game and may the best team win.
Take care,
Danny.
