MAID OF HONOUR

I wrote this article for the August 2019 edition of When Saturday Comes

I could literally see the York Road floodlights from my childhood bedroom window so Maidenhead United has always been present in my life but it was very much a casual acquaintance growing up, the first and last sight on a train ride to Slough and beyond. I had been an occasional visitor to York Road since my father took me to a match in April 1979, although I was in no sense a regular supporter until the mid 90s. 

The club was something of an island with little attempt made to engage with the local community. The prevailing view in the eighties was that of a club in decline, culminating in the fire which burned down the lovely old stand. 

WIth no internet to explain everything there was little context available to the curious youngster beyond the window opened up by the FA Cup, one which remained firmly shut to the Magpies at the time, the Rothmans annual revealing that the glory days were in the 70s, the 1870s. 

Instead it was left to my grandmother to tell me tales of hurrying home from the shops on a Saturday afternoon to beat the post match rush of supporters leaving the ground in their thousands, and of Great Uncle Gerry the Magpies goalkeeper in the inter war years who was offered a trial by one of the Manchester club. She couldn’t remember which one only that he decided not to go as he was worried about leaving his mum. He was one of nine children.

At a loose end between finishing my degree and starting my teaching career, I decided to start a fanzine centred on the club. I was soon co-opted into helping produce the match programme, and in time I became the editor, matchday PA, and press officer with a particular focus on the club’s online presence. All this led in 2007 to the club’s new owners Peter Griffin and Una Loughrey asking me to join the board, and although my professional career has caused me to drop most of the day to day commitments, I have since become a trustee of the club’s Community arm, and of the historic York Road ground itself

My time at the club has coincided with slow but steady improvement on and off the pitch with just the one major setback in 2005 when the money ran out. Fortunately the club’s sponsors took over and the Magpies have been blessed with the Griffin-Loughrey’s financial generosity, as well as their boundless goodwill. That said promotion to the National League came as something as a surprise, not to mention a rude awakening to a club that had pretty much been run on an amateur basis outside of the dressing room. 

The fixture list for our first season in a nationwide decision presented visits in August from some of the biggest ex League clubs which provided an instant challenge to sufficiently develop the ground and test the new infrastructure of matchday personnel. On a glorious summer’s day the Magpies proved their right to play at this level by beating Hartlepool at York Road in front of the BT Sport cameras. This result reflected that the key to success at this level is the ability get the best out of the resources available rather than rely on any historic status. Big names like ‘Pools and Leyton Orient, struggled to adjust to the division whilst slick well financed operations at Fylde and Boreham Wood mounted successful play off runs. 

The full time/part time divide has all but disappeared with the Magpies one of only a couple of clubs maintaining the Tuesday/Thursday evening training routine, whilst everyone else opts for full time or something approaching it. Thus promotion is an aspiration for all, but as the Magpies’ momentum from the title winning season has dissipated, survival is very much the priority, with the question of how to move to closer to a full time playing set up sure to dominate planning for next season as and when National League status is secured.

Some of those clubs with serious aspirations to win promotion to the National League already have a full time set up and the progress of those who go on to move up to the Football League suggests there is no real gulf between the two leagues, and indeed justifies calls for more promotion places.

There is however a big financial divide between the two leagues in terms of monies from the competition, although this divide is matched in scale at least between the regional and national divisions. 

One benefit of National League status is exemption to the final qualifying round of the FA Cup which this season paid dividends when the club hit the jackpot of drawing Portsmouth and the TV cameras to York Road. The small six figure sum accrued from this short Cup run, whilst not budgeted for at least eased the pressure on the chairman’s wallet.  

The biggest boost provided by recent success has been to attendances. They had crept up incrementally from a low point of about 150 in the mid 80s, to approach 500 prior to the title winning season in 2017. This was the result of much hard work in the local community over a ten year period to attract children with free entry, whilst adults enjoyed the benefits of being able to walk to a town centre ground and having a pint on the terraces. The stimulus of success to virtually triple attendances in twelve months, has been beyond the wildest dreams of everyone at the club. The question of how long these new supporters will stick around now that form has reverted to the norm, is yet to be answered. As a club we have strived to maintain the friendly non league feel, the highlight of which is the interaction between players and fans both online and at matches. This is an example of our emphasis on providing a different experience to local league clubs and the Premier League, noticeable in that a significant factor in the increase of our crowds has been those supporters disillusioned or exiled from their favoured professional club. Sadly the anachronistic appearance of high segregation fences at the Bell Street End of the ground is one price of playing at this level, although their use is kept to a minimum.  

The raison d’etre of the National League is to prepare its clubs for Football League entry, and their regulations mean we have to demonstrate a high level of fiscal stability whilst developing the ground to the required standard. There was some trepidation about how it would feel to be part of this division and certainly away from home the cost of admission, and in some cases the stewarding leaves a little to be desired although it has to be said the bigger the club the better you tend to be treated. At the moment everyone is to an extent still blinking in disbelief at our new found status but should we prosper at this level then I think the expectation will be to continue to progress. 

The club now has a handful of salaried staff, although nothing like most of our peers. Relegation would lead to readjustment on the playing front at least, with a clear contingency plan that would maintain stability whilst cutting our cloth. We are very lucky to have a manager in Alan Devonshire who has a strong emotional attachment to the club and makes similar demands on the loyalty of his playing squad so there is none of the extraordinary player turnover that can be seen at other clubs, or indeed at York Road in the past.

The structure of non league football has improved for the better in my life time with the introduction and evolution of a pyramid. That said it is far from perfect but its more a question now of finessing the system. If anything I would take regionalisation further, starting with a merged level of league two and national league into north and south divisions but vested interests mean this will not happen. 

Similarly the ground grading system is better than it was but not without the odd cause celebre.

Inevitably non league attitudes often reflect those in the wider with a greater focus on league football at the expense of knockout competitions (FA Cup aside). Lower down the pyramid there has been a welcome move to reducing the size of divisions to twenty and it would be good to see this trend move upwards. 

Above all it is the lack of any real correlation between revenue and expenditure on the playing budget that is the biggest worry for most clubs but plus ça change...