Football Focus Issue 54 | Page 34

Chertsey Town FOLLOW US ONLINE TWITTER.COM/FOOTYFOCUSMAG Chertsey Town FOOTBALL CLUB Article provided by Secretary Chris Gray C hertsey Town is on the brink of celebrating 125 years of existence. Almost half that time has been spent in the county junior and intermediate world. The step into senior football was made in 1946. The club from that time has gone full circle and after making 21 competition changes since first joining the Surrey Senior League, to effectively return to the same competition, the Combined Counties League. Like many clubs of its stature, it has gone through many traumas, almost going out of existence in the mid-sixties when it tried to break into professional football. The two year sojourn proved financially disastrous and it took over a decade to recover. Since then it has been perhaps a case of three steps forward and two back. The club benefited from two periods of serious investment by various backers. One in the nineties saw big improvements in the ground facilities and progression to the Premier Division of the Ryman League, then just one step below the Conference League’s national division. The second such revival occurred over a three year period earlier this decade which resulted in more ground improvements and elevation to Step Four with a place in the Southern League Division One Central. The club has since dropped back into their current competition at Step Five. The club’s off pitch executive is marked by stability with eight members of the 17 man committee having served for ten or more years. Although Chairman Steve Powers has been in that position for the past 15 years, the longest serving is club secretary Chris Gay who joined in 1974. Next year will mark his 40th in that particular role but he continues to take on other tasks, primarily the production of the match day programme and pitch maintenance. He is only one cog in the Chertsey Town clockwork however as the club runs with a multitude of juniors’ sides ranging from ages eight years upwards to two Under 18 sides. This involves a broad spectrum of organisers. F o l l o w i n g relegation in 2014, the current season has been one of frustration. A change of management resulted in just two first team players staying on which engendered a poor start to the campaign. This was stabilised but after a promising start to the New Year, the side has again recorded variable results. However, the trend is for improvement and thoughts of vying for promotion next season are considered as quite feasible. One of the two players that st ayed is John Pomroy who first joined in 2000. Chertsey Town Club Info - www.chertseytown-fc.co.uk - Twitter : @Chertsey_TownFC - Founded 1890 34 Issue 54