The 2010/11 season was a slow, painful, drawn-out campaign for the Rooks. The miraculous escape from a second successive Conference League relegation the previous season, where the Rooks won four of the final six games to avoid the drop by two points brought hope that the downward momentum may be halted, but four points from the first 13 games saw them rock bottom by the end of October and club legend Steve Ibbitson step aside for Tim O’Shea. The team picked up points but never enough to shake off the threat of relegation. A defeat at home to Bishop’s Stortford on Easter Monday condemned Lewes back to Step 3, or did it?
The Rooks went to Boreham Wood on the last day of the season. There were rumours that issues across the leagues would see the team finishing third from bottom reprieved. The Rooks needed a win, and third from bottom Thurrock to lose at Staines Town. The latter part came true, but we lost 3-0. A few days later it was announced that Thurrock had been reprieved. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise?
It had been seven seasons since Lewes had left the Isthmian League, but now they were back and not many people’s tips to go straight back up. That was until 4 June. Tim O’Shea had announced he was stepping down at the end of the previous campaign, and with the takeover of the club by the Rooks 125 group and the bold move into community ownership, the club needed to make a statement on the pitch (or at least the touchline) as well as off it.
As our car stereos blared the UK’s Number 1 song at the time – a collaboration by Pitbull, Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer, aptly titled “Give me everything” – Lewes announced that The King was back. Three years after leaving in controversial circumstances, Steve King was to return as manager, having left Farnborough after their play-off defeat a few weeks previously.
It was a bold move, but one that got the fans even more excited that the future was indeed bright after a few seasons of struggle and uncertainty. In an interview shortly after he came back, King said it was the honest people who made the right noises as a key reason why he came back. King wasted no time in bringing in some of his most trusted players. Former Rooks Paul Booth, Gary Holloway, Nic Ciardini, Steve Robinson, Stuart Robinson and Michael Malcolm all arrived from Farnborough, with other new signings including Steve Brinkhurst, Matt Somner, Ian Draycott and Christian Nanetti, who would sit alongside Lewes legend and former Crawley Town midfielder, Simon Wormull.
Pre-season didn’t start too well, with star midfielder Holloway injured in the first minute of the first training session. He would not play a single minute in the season. Were the Rooks cursed or was it just one of those things that happen in football?
Other results didn’t give the fans much insight – wins against St Neots Town, Hampton & Richmond Borough, and Crawley Down; defeats against Worthing, Eastbourne Town, and Whitehawk; whilst the bizarre “celebrity” game against Mark Wright’s Essex United ended in a draw.
King’s first Isthmian League game was away at Lowestoft Town, who were heavily tipped (including by King himself) as one of the favourites for the league. They Rooks were gifted the perfect start when the Trawlers skipper putting through his own net in the sixth minute. Ten minutes later and Crane’s afternoon went from bad to worse as he was sent off, leading to the Rooks fans declaring “we’ll win the league by Christmas”. Alas, three second-half Town goals in the summer rain soon damped the mood, with the longest journey home of the season being particularly miserable.
However, a six-game unbeaten run in the league saw the Rooks jump into the top five, although another afternoon to forget in the rain was the 4-1 spanking given to us by Step 5 Chertsey Town in the FA Cup. That game aside, results were consistent, which is more than can be said for the number 1 shirt, where King used six different keepers by the start of December, with a constant stream of loan keepers coming in until he settled on Rikki Banks as his first choice.
Whilst the team were staying on the coat tails of the leading pack (Billericay Town, Hornchurch and Lowestoft Town) things weren’t as cordial between King and the board. What exactly was said, done, and not done is confidential but on 12 January, with the Rooks sitting fourth in the league, the club announced he had been suspended, pending further investigations. A week later it was announced that King had left by mutual agreement. The remarriage had ended once again in divorce. Irreconcilable differences had replaced the heady honeymoon in just over six months.
The fans were shocked and naturally wanted answers. King had brought back an attacking and entertaining brand of football, and to his credit, the team he built under the guidance of Simon Wormull went on to finish the season in sixth place, only two points off a play-off spot, which to this day remains the joint-highest finish since the Conference days.
There are always questions that can’t be answered. Non-League football is a breeding ground for rumour, conjecture and misunderstandings. Some will claim to know what really went on – the flames were certainly fuelled by the gossip for weeks into 2012 – but to Wormull’s credit, he kept the team on course until the end of the campaign. His impressive side was dismantled over the summer, although Gary Holloway remained, happy to see out his two-year deal, never once seeing even a second of action before joining Hampton & Richmond Borough.
Naturally, Steve King bounced back, joining Macclesfield in the summer, and going onto manage a host of clubs across the country at Step 2 and 3, before returning to Sussex in the summer at Eastbourne Borough, having failed in the impossible task of keeping them up last season in the National League South with only a few games to go.
You can be guaranteed that King will get a hearty round of applause from the Rooks fans who remember his teams and the success they brought to the Pan when Borough arrive on Bank Holiday Monday, but there will also be those who will once again question what really did happen in that tempestuous few weeks late in 2011 that led to the parting of the ways.