Read what Ben Clasper had to say in his programme notes ahead of our National League South clash with Bath City.

I have always believed it is best to plan for the bad times when times are good as panicked or last-minute decisions are no foundation for real improvement and so, true to form, our new three-year plan for the club was drafted during our unbeaten run on the pitch in December and not during our recent poor run of form. We knew then that one good month did not mask the fact that in our four and a half seasons in the National League (excluding the 2020 21 non-event) we have only managed one third of a season that could be considered a success.

The step up from the Isthmian is harder than people think, our regular combatants during the play-off years who secured promotion around us (Margate, East Thurrock, Bognor Regis, Billericay) have all returned from whence they came and whilst their unrivalled resources elevated Dorking to another level there is no reason the performance of more recent newcomers (Tonbridge and Worthing) shouldn’t be beyond us. I believe that so far we have punched below our weight and so if we want to preserve our position, we have to stop doing the same things and expecting different results. Sadly though, we must also accept the very real risk that change will come too late to avoid falling back into a relegation battle we hoped to be clear of.

Recent history tells us there are two paths to being competitive at this level. The first is to buy success but rumours of the strength of our financial resources as a result of our crowds are grossly exaggerated. The level of investment that has bought success in the National League is way beyond sustainability for any club. We did have one attempt at competing with a higher budget and ironically delivered our lowest finish, only surviving relegation on a points per game basis due to the expunging of the results of the league below and the delay of the ‘four down’ re-structure. So even though our sustainable, revenue-based budget should allow us to compete for the play-offs year in, year out there is clearly another ingredient that we are missing that is far harder to come by than writing cheques.

So, it’s that second path we have to understand and it’s one followed by another group of clubs who know the National League and so are consistently featuring far higher up the table than we have ever managed. They clearly have an approach and a structure that provides a mid-table foundation and then in good years they can look to the play-offs and in bad years they may have to look over their shoulder but those bad years their rare exceptions whereas for us it is the norm. That is a model we must learn from, look at Oxford, Bath, Chelmsford and to a lesser extent Eastbourne and Braintree. I know many of you will point out the obvious physical difference in our squad and our style compared with those clubs so whilst we must evolve we know it cannot come at the expense of the playing style we have always sought to deliver.

The fact we haven’t done this sooner is a fair criticism and the buck stops with the board. The reality is that circumstances meant that from the minute we were promoted to this level the focus was on keeping the club alive through crisis after crisis and the manager had to get on with dealing with the footballing side. As welcome as that autonomy may have been in some respects it also brought with it a lack of support and governance. Once the club were finally able to focus on the football it felt like we had already missed the boat having seen a variety of approaches all fail to deliver and when results finally reached the point that it would have taken an unprecedented level of performance to save our National League status we had to accept that a new approach would have to include a new management team as well.

I do regret that we were not able to start down this road sooner but when I look back I am hard pushed to see what else we could have done given the hand the club was dealt off the pitch. We are though as committed to meeting this challenge as we were with the many others we have overcome in the past few years but it will need new people and new skill sets to add to those who have steered the club so effectively in other areas. It is the board’s responsibility and priority now to build a team and an approach that delivers the level of success on the pitch that you all deserve to enjoy, not just thrive off it.