Billericay high flyer with more than 50 goals this season!
TAKE a tour of Billericay Town’s heavily graffitied ground and you quickly understand that this is the most curious club in non-League football.
Walk into the tunnel and you are suddenly in the ocean, surrounded by sharks. Take a few further steps into the changing room and there are lions chasing zebras while eagles circle.
Even outside, along one entire stand, is an enormous image of the Essex club’s manager-owner Glenn Tamplin being disturbed in bed because God has a message for him. It is meant to depict the man upstairs asking him to save Billericay.
A few locals believe he has. Billericay were promoted to the sixth tier of English football as Bostik League Premier Division champions and Jake Robinson, one of stars of nonLeague, is their top scorer with over 50 goals this season. ‘It’s different,’ he says. ‘It’s niche. It’s what we’ve become famous for. It is the way Glenn has got the exposure of the club up. It’s brought success with it.
‘I don’t know if we’re hated but other clubs want to beat us. Everyone raises their game. And everyone celebrates more than they ever would if they nick a draw or beat us.
‘But we wouldn’t change it for the world. Glenn has got a longterm plan and he’s committed to seeing it through. He wants to get into the Football League.’
Robinson goes into the Billericay changing room, where one motivational message asks, would you rather soar or ‘peck around in s*** with the chickens’.
Tamplin, with his tattoos, muscles and alternative methods, is not your typical boss.
In January, in a WhatsApp group he shares with his players, he posted a picture of himself crying in the gym. ‘I would die for each and every one of you,’ he wrote.
In February, during a difficult time, Tamplin sacked himself after an FA Trophy defeat, then had a change of heart.
He also had his players sing R Kelly’s The World’s Greatest during a pre-match pep talk. The lyrics include ‘I am an eagle, I am a lion’, hence the theme of the changing room.
‘Ask anyone in Billericay and they have only got good things to say about what he has done,’ Robinson says. ‘ If he wants something he will tell you. There is no beating around the bush. I appreciate that. A lot of people in football will tell you what you want to hear. But we find it works a lot better this way.’
Robinson’s first meeting with Tamplin was in March 2017, when he left Hemel Hempstead Town to drop down a division and become Billericay’s club- record signing for £24,000. The striker turned up at their stadium, where several members of the media were waiting. As it turned out, they were there for Jamie O’Hara, the former Premier League player unveiled on the same day.
Robinson introduced himself to Tamplin, informing him he was his new purchase.
‘It was a funny introduction,’ he says. ‘There was a lot of media there but I didn’t speak to one person. I kind of liked it, I stayed under the radar and did my talking on the pitch.’
Robinson, 31, has been around the block. Aged 16, he became Brighton’s youngest goalscorer. He has also appeared in every division except the Premier League. Billericay, though, who normally train at West Ham’s Chadwell Heath ground, is a new experience.
As Robinson poses for pictures, smashing ball after ball into the goal, Tamplin and Billericay’s coaching staff are getting nervous. ‘How much longer?’ they shout.
The reason they are worried is Robinson has a game to play later. He scores twice, almost inevitably, and secures a 5-3 win over Staines Town.
Billericay turned into nonLeague sensations this season but for those inside the club, they feel their story is only just getting started.
Marathonbet’s #NonLeagueChallenge is a nationwide competition to find the best goal celebration in nonLeague football, with the winners awarded £20,000 and a friendly against a team of Legends. Go to: nlc.marathonbet.co.uk