Monday, April 17, 2023

Non League Paper Article 16th April 2023

Below is taken from the Non League Paper from Sunday 16th April 2023.


TOOTING & Mitcham United fans have slammed club chiefs for presiding over a demise which has seen their famous old club relegated to the lowest  level of football they have  ever played.

The Terrors saw their  long-standing association  with the Isthmian League  come to a end after Monday’s 1-1 home draw with  Chipstead confirmed their  relegation from the South  Central division.  In their proud 91-year  history, the club have never played as low as Step 5  but are staring demotion  to either the Combined  Counties League or Southern Counties East League  in the face following a disastrous campaign.

The team’s  last win was  against Binfield  in February, 11  games ago, and  since then they  have seen a  group of senior  players including wily keeper  James Shaw leave Imperial  Fields, disillusioned with  the club’s direction on and  off the field. Supporters club member Steve Harrold, a prominent voice on social media  as ‘Hackbridge Harry’, believes chairman Tony Cox  should shoulder the majority of responsibility. “It’s been the perfect  storm,” he told The NLP.

“The players are not doing  it on the pitch and the people who run the club don’t  seem to understand what it  takes to do that. They seem  to think ‘we’re a big club,  we’ll stay up’ but the truth  is we have been sleepwalking towards disaster and  they only tried to change  things when it was too late. “You can accept a bad  season but there are problems that have just been  ignored and now it’s too far  gone to make a difference.

“It would be wrong to  pick on one person when  it’s fair to say everyone  takes responsibility. I’ve  been going to watch for  about 16 years and this is  by far the worst period I’ve  experienced as a supporter. “We’re in a right state  and I’m very concerned  about supporter morale. It  all seems to be going terribly wrong and the chairman has allowed it to do so  through naivety. “If there is somewhere  to lay the blame, I’d pretty much put it there but  the players have to look at  themselves too.” Another fan, Anthony  Harrold, says he can even  see Tooting going to the wall  with the club  now competing  at Step 5. “We haven’t  been listened  to,” he said.

 “It’s as if the  club have just  seen supporters  as being there  to be negative and cause  problems. All we want to  do is help the club. I’m disillusioned and many feel  the same. It’s gone too far.  It wouldn’t shock me if the  club folded.” But first-team joint manager Ashley Bosah insists  the club can rise again  next term.

 “There is a disappointment from a management perspective in the  expectations we set out for  this season and where we  are now,” he said. “We have to look at what  we could have done better,  on reflection, like the recruitment. But there is a  lot of support inside the  club, they believe in what  I do although it is challenging mentally. “There is a plan in place  for next season for rebuilding and restructuring and  for us starting to go forward again.”

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