View From The Directors Box v Charlton Athletic

For those who could not make the game, or didn't see a programme, here is my column.

View From The Directors Box

Good evening everybody and welcome to the KNK Stadium for tonight’s game against what I hope will be Charlton Athletic First Team. This fixture was arranged in lieu of any fee being charged for Jamie Mascoll’s transfer early last season. I hope everybody associated with Charlton Athletic has an enjoyable stay at our temporary home.

As expected, it has been an eventful break but the one thing missing is a return to our home at Champion Hill. However, whilst we are Tooting & Mitcham we will certainly call it home.
We have now achieved two of our three main aims in terms of the survival and growth of the football club. Firstly, we have secured the return of the club’s shares having made it very clear that we did not believe that any exercisable option over them existed.

Following that, we have spent a lot of time updating the company’s share register, contacting existing shareholders and then holding the first General Meeting in more than a decade. At that meeting, it was agreed to increase the club’s share capital to £1.5 million to recapitalise the business and attract new income. That process is ongoing and if you want further details then please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The same meeting also agreed the appointment of our long serving manager, Gavin Rose, as a Director of Dulwich Hamlet Football Club Ltd. This is just the first of several new appointments that will ensure that the Board of Directors serves all the club’s stakeholders.
The final thing agreed was a new set of Company rules that are now with the Football Association for verification. Upon approval these will be registered at Companies House.

In addition, we have been able to secure 73% of the club’s current shares and these are being held within a company controlled by the new Directors. I assure you we have no intention of selling these shares but hope that new investment will reduce the percentage and spread ownership further amongst fans and new investors.

Having achieved the first of our aims, we then turned our attention to the purported debts of the company to Meadow and its associated companies. Having Just instructed our solicitor to seek details of the debts, we were informed that these amounts had now been written off. That means that we are now a debt free club.

However, our major aim of securing a return to Champion Hill has not made a great deal of progress. Fans will recently have seen the heart-breaking photographs of an overgrown and neglected Champion Hill. I hope that now that common sense has prevailed on the shares and the purported debt that Meadow can see that locking us out of our home is counterproductive to their aims.

We remain available to open dialogue with them, but they have so far refused all requests to sit down and talk. We sincerely hope that they reconsider as there can be no progress without the return of the club to Champion Hill.

After those positives, it is disappointing that our most local Football League sides, who expressed their support for our plight online last season, could not manage to fit us in their pre-season schedules. Despite their promise to send a strong side to play us, Crystal Palace just “forgot” what they had agreed. This is not just annoying but financially damaging.

We have also been working hard to secure new sponsors and are absolutely delighted to be able to welcome Rogo Scott as our new front of shirt sponsor. Ben and the team are a good fit for our club and will help us to continue to keep the fight to return home in the media and open new communication channels for the club.

Their business skills and experience will also be invaluable, and I expect them to take a major role in the plans to grow the club still further and push us up the leagues and improve our public profile still further.

We are also close to finalising other exciting sponsorship deals that will make the stadium look like our real home.

We also have new kit suppliers and so there is a slight change to the home shirt and a brand new away shirt this season. Our new supplier is SKKits based in the north of England and, so far, nothing is too much trouble. Our decision was based partly on price and partly on the fact that Kappa did not deliver on the club’s return on the expenditure with them as agreed.

Our new supplier can deliver shirts from new born to 5XL, the items are all bespoke to the club and the turnaround times are much reduced. Until items are in the Trust shop, if you like anything the players are wearing on or off the pitch then just email me.

In terms of The National League, we are now playing in a competition that is on a different level from our previous experiences. This was brought home by the need to set a budget, and have it agreed by the league, prior to having our place finally confirmed.

On the pitch, I know fans were disappointed by several the departures and, for a time, it seemed that we were looking to lose a lot of players. However, there are many reasons for player departures and, whilst some of them are financial, others are for lifestyle reasons. It is also our policy to deal with departures prior to announcing incoming players. It is also our policy not to announce player signings until they have signed with the club, so I apologise for the number of players bearing the name “A Trialist” in our recent line-ups. Whilst we realise some of these are identifiable to fans, others are not so. At a time when we must seek value for money, we would not like to alert those with more financial resources unnecessarily.

Talking of money, the club was able to secure fees for both Reise Allassani, a player destined to return to the Football League, and Muhammadu Faal. These both include significant sell on clauses.

Although there seem to have been a lot of departures, we have some quality players currently on trial and have secured the services of Byron Lawrence, a quality midfield player, and Anthony Cook. Anthony is a player that will really excite the fans and will be a great character to have around. He is a player who has so much experience at a higher level and really wanted to sign for the club. That is shown by the fact he turned down much larger offers from other clubs to sign for The Hamlet. If he wasn’t already destined to be a fans favourite, his recent video taken which driving down Dog Kennel Hill will have secured his popularity with the fans.

The need to support the 12th Man has not diminished if we are to really compete at this higher level. We hope that you feel the value for money offered by our season ticket prices mean that you have a little more spare change to drop in the buckets or, even better, set up a regular Standing Order.

Finally, I would like to pay tribute to a couple of club stalwarts who left the Football Committee over the summer:
Paul Griffin, who has been a mainstay on our turnstiles whilst also running the website, the 1893 Club and our social media, decided to take a break but has since resurface ed to bring his skills to the Supporters’ Trust.
Mishi Morath delivered his final initiative on behalf of the club by realising his dream of a 125th Anniversary Tour to Hamburg. His community initiatives have gone a long way to bringing crowds to The Hamlet and he is one of the best “ideas people” around. However, he is returning to his natural habitat behind the goal.

Enjoy the game and if you have any questions or suggestions then please feel free to email the club via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Liam