Ian Ridley explains why clubs are wise not to upset their rivals – and he knows from past experience
SO KEEP FRIENDS CLOSE
THE NOISES coming out of Billericay Town grow ever louder. They are certain to be one of the stories in Non-League football next season. As they are right now.
Their owner, Glenn Tamplin, indeed has been matching words with deeds. A clutch of new signings, proven even above the Ryman Premier, have arrived at New Lodge to take the wage bill to an astonishing £25,000 a week. There are clubs in League Two who will not be spending that.
It has led the wealthy Tamplin to claim that he will be sending out “the best Non-League team in the world” and that “we will win the league”. The first statement is surely hyperbole, but the second may well prove accurate. Indeed, given the sums involved, it will be some shock if it doesn’t happen.
Mr Tamplin has also been in the news for cancelling a friendly against Concord Rangers, apparently after a twitter remark by the Beachboys’ chairman Ant Smith that they got out of the Ryman on £2,500 a week.
That episode is telling and perhaps even foreshadows what might happen frequently in the coming season.
When I became involved with the new Salisbury FC two seasons ago, and the phoenix club was placed in the Wessex League, it was quickly clear that we were seen by other clubs as a mixed blessing.
All of them liked the revenue our supporters would bring to their home games, but you could overhear the remarks about ‘Billy Big Time’ Salisbury and manager Steve Claridge from certain clubs and their dugouts.
Unpopular
It was unfair. We may have been the biggest club in the league, but we and he did nothing to fuel the big-time perception, except assemble a good side on a budget we could afford – and not even the biggest in the Wessex League at the time.
Something similar happened on occasions last season in Evo-Stik Southern Division One South and West. This will be familiar to a lot of clubs trying to drag themselves up a level or two, whether they are splashing the cash (not the case at Salisbury) or have a big fan base (which is the case at Salisbury).
There is envy, even resentment. There may well indeed be a camaraderie and a Non-League family, but, like all families, there are squabbles. Where you are involved at this level, the ideal, romantic notion of the game has a dark side, like everywhere and everything else.
So how do you react to the disparagement of your club? Sometimes not well, with a sharp retort, I have to admit, but that’s part of being human. More often you just have to bite your tongue, rise above it and just get on with showing the courtesy and hospitality sometimes denied you.
Mr Tamplin will, I suspect, come to see and know all this with Billericay next season. He may have the money and the resources not to worry about any criticisms and resentful attitudes. He does seem to be building up the ground as well as the team to leave something in place. But there will come a time when it all begins to lose its appeal, the spending palls for the owner, or the club hits a glass ceiling. It is then when the club will be judged on its long-term sustainability rather than a season or two of bought success.
I have sadly seen that with a few clubs, too. They often have AFC in front of their name, including one not too far away across Essex at Hornchurch.
And it is then when the club might need some goodwill. Some humility and respect for other less fortunate clubs when a club is strong and well-financed buys that.
After all, there is an old saying: “Be nice to people on the way up, because you’re going to meet them on the way down.”