Grays & Witham !

[coach et 64]

I must admit it is strange that some teams dont want to go up. I dont know why any player would want to join a side who have absolutely no ambition to move up the ladder. Sudbury must have won the Ridgeons league 4 or 5 years on the spin before finally deciding to go up.

The ESL history is full of teams that have won the league but didn't or couldn't take the plunge.GWR won it in 1995 but they only decided to make a move in 1999 when they finished 2nd to Bowers.Basildon,Brentwood,Enfield Town,Concord did the same over the years.At the end of the day most of the times comes down to finance and especially in recession time like today's it's difficult to raise money from sponsors etc.I would add that the ridicolous ground grading criteria set by the FA for this level of football has put an unnecessary financial burden on a lot of clubs.Money doesn't grow up on trees guys and if you think it does you're either living in a cuckooland or you're not a chairman or a manager.

[onebreast]

Nothing wrong with a bit of ambition is there though . Whats the point in having the best team if the club cant match the ambitions/abilities of their players?

[Arlowman]

I must admit it is strange that some teams dont want to go up. I dont know why any player would want to join a side who have absolutely no ambition to move up the ladder. Sudbury must have won the Ridgeons league 4 or 5 years on the spin before finally deciding to go up.

 

 

Isn't Stansted's situation a little bit different. They can show ambition but with the cricket club sharing (I think) they will never get the ground grading they need to be able to make the step up.

 

To be honest, I'd happily have Stansted in the Ryman than travel to the likes of Ilford/Tilbury and it's even prefrable than a trip to Brimsdown for the Towners. At least you can have a good beer and afternoon out at Stansted. You can even spot a few planes although I'm not into all of that.

[coach et 64]

Nothing wrong with a bit of ambition is there though . Whats the point in having the best team if the club cant match the ambitions/abilities of their players?

 

It's nothing to do with ambition.If you ask that to all the ESL club's chairmen you'll have the same answer apart one or two exceptions...An average of 100 for Rym 1 or 52 for ESL go through the gates so what's the point in having a strict ground grading for our level.Terry has built a good close knit squad that on the pitch deserves to go up.The ground thing it's the usual red tape from an archaic FA like it was for Stevenage years ago.

[onebreast]

I wasnt singling out Stansted there , it was just a generalisation across the leagues. There are some step 5 leagues which are 22-24 strong , and only one team has applied for promotion !

 

Stansted fully deserve a shot at the Ryman , id have them over a Leyton or an Ilford any day of the week ! It has a cracking clubhouse , just a shame that the rest of it isnt up to scratch.