So, the long-anticipated playing budget cuts have kicked in, and consequently the Supporters Club is announcing a number of emergency measures to right the club’s finances:
- Raffle tickets are immediately increased to £200 each. Sellers Barbara Arnold and Irish Stu will accept cash, credit cards and mortgage deeds, but no excuses.
- Supporters Club quizzes will now take place on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Each incorrect answer is punishable by a £50 fine. Monday’s quiz topic will be French prime ministers 1834-1896.
- Supporters Club treasurer, Abacus Al, will begin offering “massage” services in the Lewes area. Keep an eye out for his cards in local phone boxes. Take it easy with him, he’s got a bad back.
The men’s first team squad was shorn of three players yesterday (Finlay Chadwick, Charlie Walker and Ian Gayle), although how many of those were due to budget cuts and how many were down to tactical decisions isn’t clear. The fact the goalkeeping coach was on the bench tells you all you need to know about current squad depth, however, although there was at least one new face – striker Lukas Franzen-Jones.
What we do need now is a clear, unequivocal statement from the board about what’s going on. When we were asked to vote on whether to sell the women’s team in the summer, it was presented as that or crippling playing budget cuts, staff redundancies, the Foundation teams sent to the gulag, and The Dripping Pan turned into a Tesco Express (the Supporters Club lawyers have asked me to point out that the last two items on this list have been exaggerated for comic effect). Now it appears we’re getting both.
Are the cuts that have been made enough to see us through the season? Will there be further cuts if a sale doesn’t come off? Are the budget cuts being applied to both first teams? This is (for the time being at least) a fan-owned club. The supporters who turn up week in, week out, the people who volunteers their time, deserve answers.
That’s not to say that the board aren’t hard-working volunteers too who might even be putting in their own money to keep the show on the road, but we need clarity and we need it fast. Or else, you’re throwing your own manager(s) under the bus, if nothing else.
Something else the men’s team need fast is a result. Something to stop the slide down the table. We didn’t come close to getting one in Aveley, who’ve not had a great start to the season themselves – maybe because the locals have spanked all their hard earned on hoisting Union Jacks from every lamp post instead of backing the team. Driving in, I wasn’t sure if I was attending a football match or a D-Day re-enactment.
Their 15th minute lead came from (you guessed it) a corner, the third we’ve conceded in two games. This is a tough time for the sizeable contingent of Lewes/West Ham fans. Every time either side concedes a corner you reach for the valium. This one almost didn’t go in, Rogers trying vainly to swat it off the line, but the lino deemed it had gone over.
They didn’t wrap it up until the 80th minute, although we didn’t really look like scoring at any point. It’s the second game on the spin where we’ve barely made the opposition keeper make a save. The closest we came here was a cheeky attempt to lob the keeper directly from the second-half kick-off. But the biggest threat the keeper faced all game was Abacus Al giving him grief about his haircut.
Their second goal was swatted in on the rebound, after a near-post save. The third saw Louis Rogers lobbed from the edge of his area in insult-added-to-injury time.
Most of the small gaggle of away fans stayed to commiserate with the players at the end. We need to stick with them, and hope they stick with us.
Lewes: Rogers, Asiedu, Bowry, Burchell, Bernal, Iandolo, Andrews, Bennett, Morgan (West), Clark (Christmas), Franzen Jones
Unused subs: Harman, Maguire-Drew, Hamouchene