The football season got off to a perfect start for Croydon Athletic with a 3-1 FA Cup extra-preliminary round win at home on Saturday, to the delight of the club’s fans, their famous owners and their new sponsors.
NEIL BENNETT, the former BBC News sports correspondent, was at the Mayfield Stadium to see how things are progressing behind the scenes
In the net: striker Richard Pingling slots home the penalty that made it 3-1 to the Rams on Saturday
The owners of AFC Croydon Athletic, rapper Stormzy and Palace great Wilfried Zaha, could hardly have hoped for a better start to the new chapter in the club’s history. Promotion to the Isthmian League in their first season in charge, an official sponsor for the first time and a 3-1 home win over Guildford City to begin this season’s FA Cup campaign.
Where will it all end? Reaching the football league like Sutton United and Bromley? Or is that getting a bit ahead of ourselves?
The essential third member of the Croydon Athletic ownership triumvirate is Danny Young, the club chairman and Zaha’s manager. Inside Croydon asked him if Football League status was a realistic ambition.
Frying start: Jordan Davis, the club CEO (left) and player Amadou Tangara at last week’s launch of the Wing Stop sponsorship, with Athletic’s new Adidas shirts
“Wilf and Stormzy are both at the top of their fields and very competitive people and we will look and see where we are at, but first and foremost it’s about this club and the community which is massive for us,” Young said.
“Wilf didn’t have a club to play for close to him when he was growing up in Thornton Heath. Stormzy, another local boy, said the same thing.
“So they want to provide those opportunities for others.”
The link with Croydon Athletic began when Young started looking for space for Zaha’s youth academy. The club’s Mayfield Road ground could provide it. It was not long before all sides realised that much more was possible.
There has been a lot of clearing up to do first.
Making progress: Rams’ co-owner Danny Young
The financial mess left after the debacle of the previous ownership of Mazhar Majeed, the man who was splashed across the front page of the News of the World and ultimately jailed for Test cricket spot-fixing, and the physical mess caused by fly-tipping near the Mayfield Stadium, have been among the priorities.
Now there are talented new players, thanks to Young and Zaha’s Palace connections, a relaid pitch, commercial sponsors, some sharp new kit from Adidas and, just as important, subsidised coaching and playing sessions during school holidays for Croydon youngsters whose families would struggle to pay for it.
It’s been a bit of a magical mystery tour for Rams’ stalwarts who have followed the club through thick and thin. Martin Bennett watched as a fan from when the club was first formed and known as Wandsworth and Norwood. He began helping out around the ground, joined the committee and is now honorary president. He still takes the money at the turnstiles at home matches.
Superfan Don Madgwick has been following the club for more than 20 years. “You can see there are wider vistas,” he told Inside Croydon. “We have to be realistic about getting into the Football League, but there’s no doubt that the ambitions of the new owners are that we should be as competitive as we can, whatever league we’re in.
Gate check: Martin Bennett helps out at the turnstiles
“Beyond that, it’s where the journey takes us.”
He also points out the boost to the area. “All of us know how misrepresented Thornton Heath has been over the years and those of us who actually live here know there’s an alternative reality. This will help get the momentum going.”
The club could do with more people coming to home games. All in good time, though, and the potential has obviously been spotted by new sponsor, Wingstop UK, the restaurant chain who recently opened a branch in Croydon Valley Park.
Fasten your seat belts for take-off at Mayfield Stadium.
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