Here is what Chairman Ben Clasper had to say in the build up to our game vs Welling on Bank Holiday Monday.

I hope you enjoyed Tom Bale’s column in the Slough Town programme, I cannot tell you how much of a pleasure it has been not only to have Tom back but to have him back on a full-time basis, he knows this club inside out and with my fan hat on I have loved surfing his wave of news and insights in the past few weeks. I look forward to seeing who else is being lined up to write for you in these pages, but I am pleased to get a chance to jump back into the column today for our bank holiday encounter with Welling United.

Except for the swarming bees who saw through our attempts to distract them with their own pint, and losing the game, and turning my ankle over on the broken terrace steps I still remember with fondness our first ever game at National League South level away to Welling in 2018. Probably because I was still just a fan enjoying a day out without any inkling of what was coming around the corner in my direction a month later. Happy days. I remember thinking we got schooled that day but feeling confident we would quickly learn football at this level. I also remember thinking I’m glad I was nothing to do with the running of the club in such challenging times.

Four years on I wonder if I should be shocked or just accept my naivety has no limits as my belief that it would be plain sailing from 2019 onwards if I could just return the club to Champion Hill has been blown away by crisis after crisis and so today I’d like to provide some feedback on what has fast become the most frequently asked question from fans - ‘how is the cost-of-living crisis going to affect the club?’. Well, we kicked off a season with two home games on days of national transport strikes closing our local stations to fans and after budgeting to balance our books for the season we were informed our new energy bills will now exceed our entire season ticket income and latest predictions suggest it could even exceed our entire sponsorship income. We are struggling to find people to staff and secure our match days as we have a national hospitality and stewarding workforce shortage. We froze our ticket prices to help our community with a cost-of-living crisis at a time when people were still shocked by the prospect of inflation hitting 5% and yet before we finished printing season tickets that had reached 18%. Tough times to say the least.

For the record, I express no political opinion here, these are just the facts and that is the situation facing the club that it is my duty as Chair to communicate to you, our fans. If you want to debate who is to blame for creating the situation that’s fine but our focus needs to be on solutions and our main concern is that to date not one solution has been proposed by government to any of the above.

Rather than expressing my opinion I will express what the impact is likely to be, every football club is a business with employees and bills to pay and I believe the next six months will see a tidal wave of loss of community clubs, pubs, restaurants and shops all of whom were well run financially but none of whom operate with profit margins large enough to cover the impact of every significant financial factor in their business rushing in the wrong direction at the same time.

I do have to confess when you are trying to keep a 130-year-old club alive a slight pang of anger rears its head about the financial cost to the club when unions call strikes that prevent our fans attending games but it quickly disappears and is replaced by the realisation that if people don’t start taking a stand against what is happening up and down the country this disaster will sweep us all away anyway. We must stand together to stand a chance because dividing people is what protects those responsible from having to act. So, the answer to the question of what position is the club in is that we planned for the hit expected a month ago but economic forecasts are still heading in the wrong direction. I have to believe that when they are faced with the reality of mass closures the government will have to intervene. What was I saying about naivety?

But let’s embrace the happy moments like today, a bank holiday fixture against another wonderful South East London club. Let’s welcome our friends from Welling and hopefully we can escape in the football for an afternoon and if you are struggling or worried about your own situation, please, please let us know. You are our community and however hard things are for us we are still here for you.