FEATURE: Running up that Hill

It’s been a hard climb but the Hillians can finally glimpse the summit

If there had been a competition for the happiest man in Mid Sussex, Burgess Hill Town groundsman Roger would have been amongst the chief contenders. Everyone arriving at the ground for the Hillians first pre-season home fixture seemed to be commenting on the quality of his pitch, and we were not the first to do so. “We put fertilizer on it at the start of last week and then we had unexpected torrential rain, so it grew almost three inches in a few days. But we were able to get it under control again. And Harry Kewell (now manager of Crawley Town) was down here earlier this week and said it was the best Non League pitch he’d ever seen.”

Roger wasn’t alone in feeling the pre-season joy (although he might have been the only one not wondering what a Champions League winner was doing in Burgess Hill). July is a time for optimism, and the Green Elephants Stadium- sponsorship renewed for two more seasons- was positively swimming in endorphins. This wasn’t confined to the home side- fans of visitors Eastbourne Borough were feeling rather positive about their new manager Jamie Howell and his signings, including new skipper Sergio Torres- but, for once, the Hillians had good reason to be rather chipper. It seemed that perhaps- just perhaps- they were finally overcoming the barriers off the field that had for years hampered their progress on it.

The relationship between the club and their landlords, Mid Sussex District Council, has never been better than tolerable for a number of years, and on occasions could have been described as downright difficult. Some of this was down to the club- a repeated non-payment of rent under a previous now long- departed regime certainly didn’t help matters- but in the main the wheels of local authority administration have moved exceedingly slowly, if at all. Success has brought with it the need to do ground improvements, and ground improvements require permission and cost money. Getting that permission has regularly been a slow and laborious process, and getting the money together has been even more difficult, as the club have been unable to apply for grants due to having a ridiculously short lease; a lease which the council have dithered over for years as they decide whether to relocate the club and build housing on their current site.

Speaking after the match- a typical pre-season nil-nil draw which only really came to life during the last ten minutes- Hillians General Manager John Rattle was almost as positive as his groundsman had been earlier. Indeed, he had the demeanour of a man who believed his plans might finally come together.

Burgess Hill FC- as approved by Harry Kewell...

Burgess Hill FC- as approved by Harry Kewell...

“We’ve had some very good conversations with the planning department, “ he explained, “and they understand our ambition. We’re in the best position we’ve been in for a long time. I think we’re close to sorting out the lease, and we’ve put forward some ideas for the future which they haven’t discounted. We believe we have an important part to play in our local community; we’d like to have the clubhouse open on a daily basis to accommodate people using the nature reserve, for example, and the council understand that, run properly, the club is a community asset. “

Matters on the pitch during the two seasons since promotion have also been a bit of a struggle, with only a goal in the eighth minute of added time preserving their Premier Division status last season, and only the usual financial disaster at Farnborough keeping them up the season before. Rattle was quick to admit to difficulties, but was also positive about the progress that has been made.

“The last two years have been difficult. I think our playing budget has been reflected in our league position, but we don’t have a benefactor to give us silly amounts of money, we just focus on doing things the right way. I think we’ve got a model that works, we’re getting a decent average crowd, and we hope we can move on and start moving up the league soon. We are working to get our message out into the local community; there are 35,000 people living here, and we get around 1% of them through the gate. If we can increase that to 1.5% it would make all the difference, 2% would be superb. But we’re never going to be enormously cash-rich, so our relationship with the Aldridge Football Academy (announced in May) will also be significant. We’ve always had the Under 18’s, but we’ll now also have an Under 19’s side in the National U19 Alliance. We need to bring more of our own players through; although we’re doing well in that respect already. The last game we played here, back in April, the average age was 23.

Sustaining football at this level has taken a lot of hard work, but we’ve improved year on year and we have to look to see whether we can push on the way we did in the South Division. But people forget, it took us ten years in that Division to become successful. We’re now competing with some iconic non league football clubs, the likes of Staines Town, Harrow Borough, Hendon, Enfield Town- and it isn’t easy. But we plan to continue doing it.”

Manager Ian Chapman, about to start his sixth campaign at the helm, was also in a rather positive frame of mind. He was happy about his side’s performance in the fixture we’d just witnessed, happy about the general health of the club, but particularly focused on making sure his squad could compete during the new season.

“We’ve got thirteen or fourteen signed, we still feel we need to strengthen, and we might still lose Cheick Toure. He’s been on trial elsewhere, and if he goes we’ll need another centre half. He’s been honest with us about his wish to play at a higher level and we respect that. We also need another midfield player in, and possibly another forward.

A turnstile which wouldn't quite fit a Green Elephant

A turnstile which wouldn't quite fit a Green Elephant

Our aim for this season is to try and improve from last year. Every year I’ve been here we’ve improved. My first three years we came 8th, 6th and 1st in the South Division. Last year we barely stayed up, but the chairman and I are honest with each other and our target every year is just to do better. We’d like to finish in the top half of the league, but we’ve only been in it for two years and we’re still learning about it. Hopefully now we can kick on and become part of the Premier Division furniture. We want to be looking upwards rather than downwards.

We can’t compete financially with some of the clubs in this league, but we have to be sustainable. We don’t have a benefactor who can put fortunes in. Our chairman helped out financially over the years but we just need to work to make sure we have a healthy budget for where we are. We’ll have one of the smallest budgets in the league but we need to maximize what we do with it. That’s why we’ve brought back the under 23’s this season- we need to maximize the number of players who might break through to the first team.”

Asked about who he expected to win the league he spoke about the likes of Billericay and Dulwich Hamlet, but it was obvious that he wasn’t really focused on the upper echelons. He had time only to talk about his own side, and was determined to make sure that he got them to perform to the limits of their potential. Perhaps this will be a year when Hillians fans can leave their fingernails unmolested.

Today’s Leylands Park is unrecognizable from the ground of a few short seasons ago. The clubhouse with its function area is smart and comfortable, the new stand behind the goal at the clubhouse end now also has a roof, and a small covered terrace at the opposite end finally provides a place for supporters to both make an amplified noise and stay dry. The people are very much the same, but the work they’ve done has to be seen to be fully appreciated.

The local authority want their town to be seen as upwardly mobile. Plans to entirely regenerate the town centre have been approved, and it won’t be long before many of the current structures are demolished and replaced by a new shopping area, hotel and multiplex cinema; a place where today’s footballers can find the ‘cheeky Nando’s’ that their social life demands. Perhaps whilst thinking about the public image of the area the council has finally noticed that their football club have been upwardly mobile for years, and decided to help. If so, all those in green will give thanks.

As the match progressed, a group of young men in football shirts bounced an orange ball on the basketball court behind the ground. If Burgess Hill Town are to truly be successful, then you’d have to think they’d need these young men, and others like them, to take a jump to the right rather than upwards and end up inside the ground at last. Then John Rattle might just make his target and get the crowds that his endeavours, and those of the people around him, undoubtedly deserve.

Where next?

Bostik Supporters Preview 17/18: Hendon The first of our supporter previews of the forthcoming season. Step up Matt Shotter, representing Hendon FC.
Sylvian signs on- Kwabs to follow? Invicta sign one defender, and hope for a second

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