Today, we extend a warm welcome to our friends from Woking FC. May I wish their directors, manager, players and supporters an enjoyable afternoon with us and a safe journey home.
Well, it’s been another busy fortnight or so since we beat a very good Altrincham side 3-1 here at Meadow Park. Since then, we’ve been back on the road and secured a hard-fought 2-0 victory at Sutton United, in a game that I felt we thoroughly deserved to win.
For me, though, the real positives over the last month has been the way we’ve conducted ourselves as a football club. We’ve worked smart, not stupid, kept our own counsel and quietly gone about our business.
Throughout that period, Luke hasn’t made a single excuse, despite having to contend with serious injuries to key players, Regan Booty’s suspension, two international call-ups and a squad that, at times, has been stretched to its absolute limits.
It’s fair to say that, over the last two and a half months, we’ve occasionally been down to the bare bones, with just 14 or 15 fit players available for selection.
Yet, throughout all of that, Luke has never come jumping up and down at me, nor has he looked for excuses. He understands, as I do, that publicly highlighting our problems might simply encourage opposing teams to exploit any perceived weaknesses.
Instead, we’ve remained calm, stayed patient, continued to recruit sensibly and, most importantly, kept winning football matches. Trust me, we’ve scrutinised the transfer and loan markets on a daily basis, and Charlie Hunter has been to more games than I’ve had hot dinners!
Through our excellent relationships with other clubs, combined with the expertise of our Sporting Director, Charlie Hunter, and our Manager, Luke Garrard, we’ve managed to bring in some very good players, both permanently and on loan, to strengthen us across the pitch.
As such, I’m pleased to report that we now have much healthier squad depth, although I can assure you we’re still looking to improve. Our small-club approach to recruitment has always been about identifying intelligent, affordable signings. That’s never easy, particularly after selling a player of Abdul Abdulmalik’s quality.
However, by working smart, remaining patient, occasionally saying NO to ridiculous agent or player demands and waiting for the right opportunities, we’ve managed to assemble a well-balanced squad that Luke believes is capable of coping with our immediate workload and challenging for promotion.
Our thinking has been relatively simple.
By bringing in Farhaan Ali Wahid, Danny Cashman, Ted Curd, Jay Bird, Ben Whitfield, Conor Wilkinson and Will Wright during the season, we’ve given Luke the options, flexibility and competition for places needed to compete across all four competitions: the National League, FA Cup, FA Trophy and National League Cup.
And, at the moment, there’s a real sense of positivity around the whole football club. That was demonstrated perfectly by our last home league attendance against Altrincham, which, if I’m being truthful, pleasantly surprised me.
We attracted a crowd of 1,646, including more than 1,500 home supporters. We then followed that up by taking close to 300 travelling fans to Sutton United last Friday. For a club of our size, those are fantastic numbers, and it’s clear that our support base is not only buzzing but continuing to grow.
It just goes to show what a small, community-focused football club like ours can achieve when everyone pulls together, works intelligently and believes in what we’re trying to build. I think it’s now becoming clear to everyone that we’re making genuine progress, both on and off the field, and that we fully intend to challenge for promotion.
As I often tell my staff, friends and family, I genuinely feel that I’m witnessing unprecedented, unexpected and incredibly joyous days at this football club. Who, including me, could ever have imagined, when I took over back in 1999, that we would one day find ourselves in this position?
Back then, we were playing our football in the Isthmian or Southern League, averaging around 150 supporters here at Meadow Park, and simply trying to build something sustainable.
Of course, I always believed that my step-by-step approach, coupled with your refusal to lie down, give up or accept that we were merely here to make up the numbers, might one day give us a genuine shot at reaching the EFL.
But even I have to admit that the journey has surpassed some of my own expectations. Just look at how our stadium and facilities have developed, and then consider how much further they will have progressed by June 2027. Sometimes, even I have to pinch myself.
If we ever do achieve League football, it will be because of you, our loyal, old-school supporters, who have stood by me and this football club through thick and thin, including some very dark days, over the last 28 years.
It’s only because of your loyalty, a fair helping of Lady Luck, some smart investment, excellent managers and staff, and years of careful, long-term planning that we now find ourselves in a position we could only have dreamed about back in 1999.
So, I’ll say it again: thank you all so much for your incredible loyalty. I genuinely believe you’ve all earned the right to dream. And, as I’ve always said, God loves a trier, so perhaps, just perhaps, this might finally be the year that my prayers are answered.
As I mentioned in my last programme notes, the higher you climb up the football pyramid, the more important future-proofing and forward planning become. That means, now more than ever, we must continue to work smart, not stupid. We must stay driven, remain proactive rather than reactive, and ensure we’re prepared for whatever challenges or opportunities lie ahead.
In truth, following our hugely encouraging start to the season, we’re now reaching the stage where my accountant, Jennifer Priestley, my Finance Director, Ciara Dyer, my inner circle and our key staff are having to look very seriously at what next week, next month and, indeed, next season might look like.
That’s not getting carried away. That’s simply being responsible, ambitious and prepared.
So, have our signings now finished?
Absolutely not.
We must remain adaptable and realistic. We also have to accept that, for various reasons, some players may choose not to extend their contracts with us. That’s football, and while we must respect those decisions, we must also protect the interests of Boreham Wood Football Club.
That means continuing to future-proof our squad, planning ahead and ensuring that, if good players become available as the season unfolds, we’re in a position to act quickly and intelligently. We cannot afford to stand still, and we certainly cannot afford to become complacent.
Looking back, I felt our games against Kidderminster Harriers, Altrincham and Sutton United were three very important early-season indicators of where we stood as a team. Thankfully, we came through all three tests, and I was particularly pleased with the Sutton performance.
That satisfaction was perhaps heightened by some rather silly pre-match comments from their noisy manager, who suggested we hadn’t really been tested.
Perhaps he’d forgotten that we’d already travelled to Forest Green Rovers, Scunthorpe and Worthing, among others, while also facing very good sides such as Carlisle United, Harrogate and Altrincham here at Meadow Park. Still, everyone’s entitled to an opinion, I suppose!
The important thing is that we answered those comments in the best possible way, by doing our talking on the pitch.
In simple terms, our excellent start has now taken us clear at the top of the table and, with more than 28% of the league season already completed, we’ve put ourselves in a very encouraging position.
Of course, that also means we’re now there to be shot at. We’ve got the proverbial target on our backs, and every team we face will be desperate to knock us off our perch. That’s the challenge of being the early-season pace-setters, and it’s a challenge we must embrace.
We have to remain humble, focused, hungry and disciplined. We cannot start believing our own publicity, and we certainly cannot take our foot off the gas. There’s still an awful lot of football to be played, and nothing has been achieved yet.
Before I finish, I want to say a very big thank you to our incredible Wood Army, our magnificent drummer and everyone who has been making so much noise on the North Bank. Your vocal support, both home and away, has been absolutely outstanding this season.
These really are amazing times at Meadow Park, and you guys are making the journey even more enjoyable through your energy, passion and unwavering backing. I cannot tell you how much it means to the players, Luke, his staff and everyone connected with the club. So, thank you again.
That said, I’m going to ask you for even more! Please, please, please keep making yourselves heard and keep coming down to Meadow Park in your numbers for every home game, including today’s FA Cup tie against Woking.
If you can, bring a friend, bring the family or simply drag your next-door neighbour along! Trust me, you’re helping to transform the atmosphere around this football club. You’re making a huge difference to the team, you’re helping to create a genuine home advantage and, most importantly, you’re making yourselves loud, proud and heard. Long may that continue.
Finally, whoever you support this afternoon, let’s hope for an open, attacking FA Cup tie, played in the right spirit and may the best team win.
Take care,
Danny
