It’s important at times like this to take stock of where we’re at and where we’ve come from. There isn’t another football club in the country that has enjoyed as rapid a rise through the leagues as us over the last three seasons.
Since the full-time whistle went against Gloucester City in the Southern League Premier South play-off final a little over three months ago, our attention immediately turned to how on earth are we going to make ourselves ready to host National League South football. A truly unfathomable thing to have thought about when we started our journey at Farnham Town.
Four years ago, we were thinking about things like ‘do we have enough bins around the ground’ and making decisions about how we serviced a crowd of 200. This summer, all our decisions have been made thinking about how we can provide the best hospitality for crowds of 2,000 and where we’re going to fit new stands to house everyone safely. We’re still talking about the bins, too, but they are a little bit further down the agenda these days.
If you’re reading this having returned to the Memorial Ground this summer for the first time – welcome back! Probably looks like a different ground than when you last joined us.
Please take the time to re-familiarise yourself with the football club. Check out our new Club Shop and the brand new range of Adidas apparel we have available. Check out the new covered fanzone with outdoor bars and seating away from the main areas of congestion. Check out the three new stands inside the ground offering new vantage points to cheer the team on from.
Over the last 12 months, we have gone from one dedicated food outlet to four, we’ve gone from two bars to five, we’ve gone from three stands to six. It’s all change all the time at Farnham Town as we desperately try to keep up with our meteoric rise on the field masterminded by Paul Johnson and his team.
And speaking of the on the field at Farnham Town, I – like everybody else – is incredibly excited about watching our team take on the National League South this season.
Just take a moment to appreciate some of the clubs that we will face this season. We go to Dagenham & Redbridge next week. August Bank Holiday Monday, Torquay United visit us here at Farnham. These are huge, full-time football clubs with recent Football League pedigree now playing Farnham Town on a level playing field this season.
Perhaps we’ll spark some new local rivalries as well with clubs that, historically, have always been out of reach. We go to Farnborough on Boxing Day this year before welcoming Dorking Wanderers at the Memorial Ground two days later, two games I’m sure every fan is buzzing to attend.
I’ve always tried to be as honest as possible about our ambitions at Farnham Town. The last three seasons in particular, we knew we were one of the biggest fish in the pond every season and our ambitions matched that. That just won’t be the case this season by virtue of the calibre of teams that are in the National League South – arguably one of the toughest divisions in the English football pyramid. Anybody can beat anybody.
That’s what I want fans to keep in mind about this season. Anybody can beat anybody. Things are going to be tougher this season than we have ever faced before, and that’s alright. That’s exactly the sort of challenge we all want to be a part of. We’ve built a squad that I firmly believe will be competitive every single time they walk onto the field, and that’s all you can ask for.
We’re here to give a good account of ourselves, not to just make up the numbers. We’re here to try and make more history in the cup competitions after winning the Surrey Senior Cup for the first time ever last season and enjoying our best-ever Emirates FA Cup run. We’re here to make you proud to wear our colours and cheer us on.
There will be highs, there will be lows, but we need you with us every step of the way. Enjoy today, enjoy the season, and enjoy the ride.