The Bostik Friday Interview: The Prince of Regent

The town of Brightlingsea, on the Essex coast, is perhaps an unlikely place to find a football club. Home to only eight thousand people, it is connected to the rest of the world by only one road, its railway link was closed down by Doctor Beeching in 1964, and if you don’t have your own transport then your only option is a half-hourly bus link to Colchester, whether you want to go there or not. In footballing terms this is effectively the edge of the universe; yet as of next month it will be visited by the hordes of Dulwich Hamlet, Billericay Town et al, for Brightlingsea Regent will be taking up their place in the Bostik Premier Division.

Manager James Webster has been the chief architect of their on-field success, and we caught up with him as he prepared for the second fans forum of the summer.

Champions, one hundred and three points, manager of the year and four times manager of the month. Last season couldn’t really have gone any better for you, could it?

You’re absolutely right! We didn’t set out at the start of the season thinking we could achieve anything like that, our aim was to perhaps snatch that last play-off place. It was only when we got to around the end of March that we thought we might be able to achieve a little more than that. There were times during the winter that we had injuries, suspensions, and perhaps weren’t playing that well when we never dreamed we’d win the league, but we had belief and worked for each other and that somehow carried us through. Maldon & Tiptree started dropping points we didn’t expect them to drop, and things just came together.

You talked last month about your team spirit being “something that money can’t buy.” That’s just as well, isn’t it, because you haven’t got any money!

Absolutely. It’s no secret that we didn’t have one of the biggest budgets even in the North Division, and we’ll certainly have one of the lower end budgets in the Premier Division. But we’ve had a core group of lads with us for seven years. They’ve been on this journey with us from Step Seven football and now here we are at Step Three. They appreciate where they’ve come from, they approach every season with enthusiasm, and that spreads through the entire team. They play for each other, they look out for each other, and they’re honest- they’re always looking to work harder than the opposition and that picks us up points that we otherwise wouldn’t get.

You’ve managed to keep most of last seasons squad and you’ve got four new signings. How are things shaping up?

It’s always tough for us to build a squad, because we’re in the middle of nowhere. We’re too far from the London catchment area, and it’s difficult to get people to travel this far. That said, our Assistant Manager Chris Smith has a lot of connections in the Brentwood/outer London areas and is managing to be quite persuasive, but even with his help the commitment you’re asking for- and the money you have to pay at this level- doesn’t make things easy. We’re slowly getting there though; people are starting to become available who perhaps weren’t earlier in pre-season, and we made our fourth signing- James Love, who has just returned from Australia but previously played for Brentwood Town and AFC Hornchurch- earlier this week. We don’t need a massive overhaul, however; we want to give the boys who got us to the Premier Division the chance to play in it. I’m a big believer that last seasons squad deserve to stay and improve as we face a new challenge- all I wanted was one or two who had previously played at this level to give us a bit of experience. We lost only seven league games last season and we scored one hundred and fourteen goals- it would be unfair for me to tell the players who achieved that we were going to replace them. There are six or seven players still in the squad who were playing in Step Seven and who have improved and developed year on year- I’m confident they’ll do the same again. That’s the way this club works- we look after our own, and they’ve earned their opportunity.

What role have the fans played in the club’s success?

We have a fabulous group of supporters who follow us home and away, and they make an enormous difference. They don’t just support the team, they support the club- and some of them were here when we were playing park football. It’s our job to repay their loyalty and support by giving them the opportunity to go to some of these fantastic grounds and have some of these big teams coming to us next season, and I hope they enjoy the experience as much as we will. It’s a team effort, and they are as important as everyone on the pitch.

Looking forward to the new season then, what are your aims?

My first aim would be to stay in the division. If we can stay up for four or five seasons and establish ourselves as a Bostik Premier club I’d be over the moon, and our chairman would say the same. We’ve perhaps gone as high as we can sustain now; we’ve come through four divisions in seven seasons and we have to be realistic, so survival is the first priority- although I hope we can do better than that, perhaps finish around mid-table. I’m not trying to play down our chances; this is all unknown to me, unknown to the club, and we have to set realistic targets. Staying up is realistic, and once we’re secure then perhaps we can push on.

So which matches are you particularly looking forward to?
I suppose the obvious ones. I read today that Billericay have now signed Jermaine Pennant- it’s just unreal, isn’t it, a Champions League finalist! It’ll be nice for the boys to come up against some of these ex-professional players and test themselves against people of that level. And, of course, we’re really looking forward to going to Dulwich Hamlet- they have a fantastic following, they’re a great club, and they get great crowds. On a local level it’ll be good to face the likes of Needham Market and Leiston, too. We’ll get to travel to lots of new places and play against lots of new opponents; there’s nothing not to look forward too!

How’s the work on the ground coming along?

It’s just finished and it’s looking fantastic. To think, a few years ago it was just a field with a car park, and now it’s a proper football ground, covered standing, 150 seats; credit to the Chairman, he’s here every hour available, has done so much work himself to get this done- he’s done a great job.

On a more serious note, your average crowd last season would have been the second-worst in the Premier Division, yet it represented 2% of the town’s population. To put that into perspective, your neighbours Colchester United also attracted 2% of their population but averaged 3,600. Can you realistically improve your attendances and as such perhaps boost your budget?

It’s funny you should ask that, as we’re working really hard to engage with the local community. We’ve got a fans forum tonight (Friday 28th July) and it’s the second one in a short period of time, we took part in the town carnival last month- although I missed it unfortunately as it was the night of the League awards- but in truth we can’t be unhappy with the community support, as our attendances have gone up by around 150% over a relatively short time. We just need to keep building momentum. We know we’ll have more people coming to matches this season from away clubs, and hopefully that will spark even more local interest, but we also need to understand if there’s anything else we could be doing to benefit the local area. It isn’t a one-way street.

So what about your personal ambitions. Where do you see yourself in the future?

Hopefully here, but of course I am ambitious and I want to manage as high as I can. I’ve been at Brightlingsea for seven seasons now and I’ve loved every minute of it, and all of the success that has come along, but obviously I’d be silly not to look at the opportunity of managing at a higher level if it came along. Not that I’m actively searching for it!

Finally, for fans of sides in the Premier Division your side will be a bit of an unknown quantity. Do you have any players who you think might particularly catch the eye?

We have a very young squad. Our skipper Matt Cripps has twice now been our player of the season, a young lad called Robert Harvey is showing real promise- actually I’ve just had a call from Ipswich Town telling me he’s off to Portman Road on trial- and Harry McDonald might also catch the eye. But many of them show real promise- it’s difficult to narrow them down to just these three.

The town of Brightlingsea came to fame on the back of its oyster industry, although sadly that has now almost entirely departed. Perhaps, however, it may have a new batch of pearls developing at the Taydal Stadium?

The Bostik Premier Division is about to find out.