George aiming for a bright future for Worthing

By Ian Townsend

Worthing owner George Dowell spoke to us about the club’s new ground improvement appeal, community involvement, and a bright future on and off the field

At the end of the 2014-15 season Worthing had average crowds of two hundred and fifty. When the last ball was kicked in the season just recently- and prematurely- ended, that figure was just under nine hundred; and it is probable that had the Mackerel Men been able to play their three remaining home matches, with a good likelihood of promotion at the end of them, that average would have been higher still- perhaps four times what is was just five years ago. So, what changed to make Worthing FC so popular?

Let’s call it the George Dowell effect.

Club owner George would be the first to share the credit, and indeed the work done across the club, from the first team to the youth teams, the boardroom to the tea bar, the Ladies side to the Development Centre, are all important parts of the Worthing FC success story. But without George there was a great likelihood that there would be no Worthing FC at all; the club was dead on its feet when he took over, haemorrhaging cash and seriously in debt. George brought in not only the cash to save it, but a vision which has propelled it forward at a rate far greater than anyone watching five years ago- or even the man himself- could ever have expected.

Worthing fans in full voice- image from Marcus Hoare

Worthing fans in full voice- image from Marcus Hoare

On Thursday evening Worthing launched their ‘Future’s Bright’ appeal aimed at improving their stadium. They asked for forty three thousand pounds- a colossal sum in Non-League football- and within twelve hours had passed the six thousand pound mark. We caught up with George to ask him why the club had launched this appeal, and to talk to him about on-field matters and five year plans…

Anyone visiting the stadium now who hasn’t been for a few years will take one look at the place and think it’s already been vastly improved. New pitch, refurbished stand, refurbished bar, new outside bar, refurbished turnstiles- what else can there be left to do?

The idea of this ground improvement is that it makes us future-proof. There are a number of things that need to be done, some for now, and some with an eye on future promotions, perhaps to a level as high as Step One of the Non-League system.

First of all, we need new floodlights. The current ones are so old they are almost redundant, it’s almost impossible to get replacement bulbs, and when you do source them they seem to expire about ten minutes after you’ve fitted them. It’s really costly- and we need to replace them to meet ground grading requirements if we were able to get promoted. Then we want to revamp the North East corner of the ground- it needs new food provision, a new toilet block, a new bar, and we also need to modernise the currently disused turnstiles at that end. That will allow us to introduce segregation if necessary, which we don’t need in the Isthmian League but would be a requirement if we were to be lucky enough to go higher. Even without promotion, we want to reduce queues for toilets, drinks and food, and provide a better experience for supporters who come to watch football here.

Worthing FC

Worthing FC

We need to install new changing rooms too, and we hope to get those built and all of the work done before we kick off the 2020-21 season- but of course that all costs money. We’ve been lucky enough to get ninety-six thousand pounds from the Premier League Football Stadia Improvement Fund, and another eleven thousand from a generous corporate donor, but that still leaves a forty three thousand shortfall, so that’s why we are crowdfunding. People who give their cash can also purchase stand sponsorships, get their name on the wall of fame, buy a signed shirt, a mascot experience, a commemorative 2019-20 ‘Expunged. But not forgotten’ t-shirt. We’ve lots of offers to tempt them.

Five years ago after taking over you talked about a “Five Year Plan” to get into the National League South. When the season was brought to a premature end the club was right on course to achieve the target you set, with record crowds and a thriving community programme. When you look back five years, did you really expect to be in this position already?

It’s what we wanted and what we were working towards. We hoped it would be achieved, and we set the target because we wanted to have something to aim for, an aspiration, a mindset, and we set about making it happen. There have been a few bumps along the road, though.

It would have been amazing to have gone up this year. It’s just a shame that what happened, happened. Perhaps I can add a year on to my five year plan!

Worthing FC- 'Expunged but not forgotten'

Worthing FC- 'Expunged but not forgotten'

Do you think the team will be ready for next season when it starts? It must have been a crushing disappointment for them to come so close and have success snatched away by something they couldn’t control.

Hinsh (Manager Adam Hinshelwood) seems confident that a lot of the squad will still be here, and has targeted a few new faces to add to it. Of course, a lot of our players are quite young, and will hopefully be even better for having more experience, so I hope we can do it all again. It will be a different challenge though- nobody really expected us to be as good as we were, but next time around teams will be out to beat us and expect us to be at the top of our game. Still, we faced that change in opposition mindset towards the end of this season and were ok, so we just have to keep it up.

The last time we spoke, nearly three years ago, the pitch was closed, the manager had departed, you were playing home games at Bognor of all places. You seem much more positive now!

Yes, I suppose I’ve got much more to be positive about! We’re still having a few issues with the pitch and we need to resolve those before we kick off again, and we’ve got a really good manager now who has exactly the right mindset.

Looking backwards once more, five years ago you were averaging gates of two hundred and fifty, and now it’s nine hundred. That’s an incredible growth rate- what did you do to achieve that? What’s changed?

The main thing that has changed is that we’ve actively tried to bring the community to the club. We’ve lots of community groups who come in to use the pitch, and whilst they are there we advertise the fact that we have a match coming. We also have the youth teams and the development centre, and all the kids bring a parent, and we get the manager involved and the first team players and it builds relationships. Then on a Saturday those kids want to come back and watch, and they bring a parent or sometimes two, and tell their friends, and it snowballs into a real family experience.

Perhaps five years ago Worthing FC didn’t really advertise its presence to the community. It was a bit of an unknown in the town, a closed shop. We’ve set out to actively search for new fans and new community connections, and we want them to have a good time when they come.

I’ve seen them having a good time on a matchday. Children in large numbers, footballs in hand, congregating in the corner by the refreshment kiosk waiting for full time so that they can run onto the pitch and have a kickaround. How did that come about, it’s rather unique?

When I was younger, under ten, I would go to football with my dad, but I was far more interested in playing football that watching it. So I’d spend most of my time kicking a football around on the sidelines rather than watching the game. The kids who come to watch us are no different. We want them to enjoy the experience, so we give them the chance to go out onto the pitch after the game and have a kickaround. By doing that we encourage them to keep coming, and they’ll keep bringing their parents, their parents will bring their friends, and so on.

Going back to the appeal now, you only launched it on Thursday night and you’ve already (less than twenty four hours after launch) made more than six thousand pounds*. Did you expect that?

No, I wasn’t expecting it to be that popular so soon! I expected some initial engagement and a fair few pledges, but not for it to reach the heights it has reached so quickly. The issue now will be ensuring that it doesn’t lose momentum. I know that the target is stretching, but I know that we haven’t reached everyone yet. It would be particularly good to get some local businesses involved in stand sponsorship, that kind of thing- their message would be reaching so many supporters that way that I think they’d find it beneficial.

But I’m really grateful to those who have already pledged cash. It’s been a great start.

And with that, we left George to get back to adding another year to his five-year plan! If you head to the Worthing FC Crowdfunder Page, which you can find HERE, you’ll find out lots of ways that you can help and lots of possible rewards for your money.

*By the time of publication, that total had risen to more than thirteen thousand pounds.

Where next?

Woods and Towners get programme recognition Northwood and Enfield Town highly placed in National Programme Awards

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