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

For those who think a week is a long time in politics I’d like to see them try their hand at football. I am struggling to write about the appointment of Hakan Hayrettin as ‘news’ when we have already been through conflicting emotions in the two games since that announcement. I was hugely relieved that our fans finally got to see last Saturday against St Albans what this team should be capable of and I suppose it was in some way productive for Hakan to see for himself what this team has also shown it is capable of on Monday night at Chelmsford. Any risk of a victory papering over the cracks we have watched open in front of our goal week in, week out was well and truly averted by the time the fifth goal hit the back of our net.

Regular readers of this column will know I am very much a ‘if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same’ sort of guy when it comes to reading too much into too few results and so I am sticking to our two goals, firstly I want to see our forecast reverse and show we have a realistic chance of staying in this division and then I want to see us deliver on that goal. Our fixture list is daunting, Hakan’s first 7 fixtures are all against teams in the top half followed by 6 fixtures against teams in the bottom half, not exactly a recipe for climbing out of trouble and relaxing on the final stretch.

I do feel strangely resolved about our situation now, I’ve heard a lot of comments from those of you who have been to most games that the players who have let you down aren’t suddenly going to solve their problems overnight and they have a long way to go to win back hearts and minds so I am humbled by the support, I think it made the difference at Champion Hill last weekend. I am also resolved to what happens next having seen enough of Hakan and his team to believe that if he can’t secure our safety no one can.

As always with our club, endgame on the pitch is accompanied by a similar story off it as we enter that critical annual period in March when we need to secure our licence to play next season and it comes at a time when the ownership of our stadium and the next phase of the planning process is extremely fluid. That always poses the same problem – the security we need to provide the football authorities each year that there is no risk of not completing the following season is dependent on moving targets elsewhere.

So, here goes with an explainer...

The FA and the National League need a lease from us and we in turn need that lease issued by the owners but the current owners (who led the development) may no longer be the owners by the time we need to produce it as the stadium is scheduled to transfer any moment to the new prospective owners (who will lead the build) but for that to happen they both need the council to complete the process to remove the agreement that governs the current site with the new agreement already finalised that will govern the new combined site but for that to happen the council needs to complete a consultation period with the public to ensure they are following the correct process.

Got that? Nope, not surprised, but I hope you note the final piece of that puzzle which is a consultation with the public. This is not a re-running of the planning application but there may be some who try to present it that way to try to interrupt the process and if that happens we will need to be ready to hold all those to account responsible for progressing this from approval to build.

The process to secure a long-term home for generations to come has rarely been simple but this latest series of steps should be simple to complete. Our problem is that the deadlines for each step are not as perfectly lined up as we need and so we are in danger of playing all the right notes, just not necessarily in the right order. The club will make sure everyone involved understands that the existence of the football club remains the priority and so we’ll keep you all up to date via the usual channels if a missed step threatens to become a missed opportunity.

Thank you for your questions about the changes on the pitch and the status with the stadium, it is always reassuring to know you are engaged and prepared to show your support.