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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