We are conscious that not everyone can get to games regularly, or necessarily read the programme notes or attend the manager/CEO pre-game updates on injuries and team selections in the Main Stand bar at the Kuflink Stadium on matchdays, so we considered it timely to provide you with an update during a difficult period on the pitch.
You know that our management teams and CEO over the past few years are always approachable to answer questions. I’m always available on match day and can always be found along the main stand; and I spend time around the social club pre-game and during games as well. And if I am behind an office door during the week, anybody popping into the club can come and ask for me too. So if anyone has any questions on any matter, or wants to chat to me about anything, they can. That said, it’s clear that not all fans enjoy the benefit of being at games or local to the club so it’s never a problem, as now, to provide you with updates.
Obviously, in light of an unacceptable performance yesterday at Maidstone in the Emirates FA Cup, everyone at the club is as disappointed as the fans – and make no mistake, we are all hugely aware of and appreciate the efforts of our great supporter base that travelled not only to Maidstone, but to venues up and down the country and in strong numbers at the Kuflink Stadium when we are at home.
It simply wasn’t a good enough performance at Maidstone and it hurts you all, especially against local rivals. There are obviously questions you rightly raise about recruitment, squad numbers and management changes this season and we will cover that further below in this update
Matters off the pitch
Before that, however, I wanted to update you on a few non-football related matters. Firstly, we made a promise around the beer/beverage and food offerings in the close season. Getting the equipment we need installed and everything changed over is taking longer than we’d hoped. We are working closely with our drink supply partners Drinks Warehouse, and a few of the breweries we have been talking to have been a little slower than expected in providing their end proposals, but we do hope to have news on that very soon and the changes in place ASAP. There will be a change of lead beer supplier and what we offer in our bars and additionally a big update to all the bar premises – and we are very confident that supporters will be pleased with these upgrades.
You might also have seen in games that our playing kits have been ripped several times over this season. That’s a direct issue with New Balance that we highlighted with them early in the season and it has been rectified. It has been identified as a fault around the collar design of those particular shirts and New Balance are in the process of remedying it. We’re very unhappy with that situation, obviously: we’ve been a partner of New Balance for some years and they are a leading world brand but they haven’t got it right in this instance as far as match shirts are concerned so we look forward to that no longer being an issue.
On the stadium development front, while there has been nothing noteworthy for public consumption since the planning decision, we are continuing to work hard alongside Gravesham Borough Council on our alternate playing venue for when the development does begin – which, as much as we don’t like to put an exact date on things, will likely be in two seasons’ time. The process of negotiation for the Section 106 agreement between the local planning authority and the developers/landowners is under way, and the land acquisitions are taking place. There is a review period, which will go on to approximately January with the secretary of state, which is all part of the expected process as well. So don’t be discouraged by the lack of statements on the stadium front, because there is a lot of work being done on everything surrounding that project by the teams involved and it’s progressing as per our timetable and expectations.
Injury list
In terms of player availability, the following are obviously out injured: Dom Samuel, as a result of a poor challenge at Braintree Town, sustained a leg fracture and we don’t expect to see him before Christmas. Nathan Odokonyero was another victim of a bad challenge away at Tonbridge in pre-season and he was another to suffer a leg fracture as a result and like Dom, he’s unlikely to feature before Christmas.
Luke O’Neill went off in the game against Aldershot with a quad injury that has now been ongoing for four weeks. It’s still being assessed, but we can tell you that it’s not a short-term injury and could be another few months potentially. Toby Edser has a knee injury that is a minor medial strain, but there are also some minor fractures in there, which is taking time to heal and settle. That could be another few weeks at least. Lewis Page’s injury is hamstring-related and his timeframe for a return is currently unknown and still undergoing assessment. Elijah Anthony was added to the list on Tuesday night when he came off right at the end of the Kent Senior Cup tie with an ankle injury. Finally, Tyler Cordner has a quad strain and he’s at least another three or four weeks away.
We have also had a lengthy list of players only just returning to playing duties. Rakish Bingham is one of those, again the victim of an unnecessary tackle at Punjab United. He is of course back to fitness, but needs to be managed in terms of not overloading him too much. Another returnee as of yesterday is Jim Kellerman who has had a long-term muscle strain and his game time will need to increase to bring him back to the levels he was at. Kwame Thomas was also on the list with a hamstring issue and he too has just returned recently to the squad, appearing off the bench in the National League Cup and at Maidstone yesterday.
The return of Jack Wakely was widely welcomed around the club and his return to full fitness after such a serious and long-term knee injury was great news. He had a minor hamstring complaint recently, which has kept him out at times when the manager might have liked to have used him – that’s a week to week thing at the moment and will be improving.
Another absence this weekend was Dom Poleon who has had a hip issue for some time, which is managed in terms of his playing time as well as off-field medical supervision and management. Unfortunately, he was also called up for St Lucia international duty. We can’t, under FIFA guidelines, deny those call-ups so he has travelled this week and after an injury the weekend before against Rochdale, it was of course not ideal for him to do so. We made it very clear to the St Lucia Association that we didn’t want him to, but they insisted on calling him up once again. He has been doing rehabilitation work while out there and also playing some minutes to a careful plan – all of which is being closely monitored throughout his time there.
Management structure and processes
It hardly needs saying that we are all very disappointed with where we sit currently in the league table and now to be out of the FA Cup so early as well. Naturally, this brings strong feelings and questions from the fanbase as to reasons why we are where we are and the steps we take to improve the situation – not just in the short-term, though that is obviously the priority, but in the long-term strategy of the club as well.
The same process has been in place at the club for five years or longer in terms of our accountability around football and how our strategy is undertaken. We appoint managers based on all of the applicants and choose the best options for the club at that time. We made a change late last season when things weren’t working out – after a long period under Dennis Kutrieb, who had done a great job in building the title-winning side, we knew that change had to happen because staying in the division was and is so very important. Danny Searle was brought in to change and drive the momentum of the squad and alongside Anwar Uddin, the pair did just that. As such, the decision was made that they had a right to continue that work beyond their interim period and, following the maintenance of our place in the National League, into 2024/25 as well.
Danny brought in a staff and a structure which he felt was the right one, and one that was needed in the National League, with Anwar as assistant, Grant Basey as first-team coach and Brendan Ramagge from West Ham as strength and conditioner. James King came in as head of recruitment/director of football which was a first appointment in that role since Steve Lovell in 2019. Richard Bates, from the England C system, joined as our head scout with an additional team of scouts in his network.
So that’s how Danny and the assembled team put together the playing squad and the structure off and on the field for this new season, backed up by William Tan as our operations manager looking after the logistics and structures behind the team. The results that were delivered were clearly not good enough in hindsight and looking at our league position, there is no denying it.
Obviously Danny and Anwar are no longer at the club, nor are James King, Richard Bates, Brendan Ramagge, Grant Basey or William Tan.
Our current management team
There’s enough time to do the job of staying in the division – and in having Harry Watling, David Kerslake and John Cotton we have a very significant amount of football knowledge plus more than 700 combined EFL games, Old Firm derbies and Scottish Premiership games in the club. That is key and extensive experience that we have not only in the technical area on matchdays but every day on the training pitch, added to experience and contacts that are and will continue to be utilised in our recruitment efforts.
We have also welcomed Callum Daly to the club as head of performance recently and he joins from QPR having previous experience at Colchester United and Ipswich Town. Katie Knowles has moved into a football operations and secretary role to oversee team logistics while remaining with us from the summer are Mac Egan as our head of analysis, assisted by Max Bharucha, as well as goalkeeping coach James Town. We are also recruiting for additions to the medical team to work with our sports therapist Tom Stephens.
We’re confident we have the right people in place and over the past games, they have identified a number of shortcomings from the setup that was put in place over the summer. Those changes are being made and will continue to be made – they take time, and we know the luxury of time is not something extended to teams in relegation places, so they are all working extremely hard to reverse our fortunes and remedy any shortcomings as soon as possible. Whilst league points are the most important measure, the process of improving things relies on marginal gains and improvement – and the following stats may be helpful to demonstrate those small steps in the right direction since the new structure and management team has been in place
Based on the data shown :
• 13% higher shots per game
• 82% higher goals per game
• 35% lower goals conceded per game
• 35% lower shots conceded per game
• 16% high-press shots
• 34% higher set-piece shots per game
• 46% higher passes in opposition box
• 5% high-pressure regains
• 11% higher counter pressure regains per match
• 48% fewer yellow cards
• 3 Wins / 2 Draws / 4 Losses
Moving forward and squad size/ongoing recruitment
The full focus is now on performances in the league – we are a quarter of the way through the season and we have the time and the absolute determination throughout the club to work our way out of the current situation.
Whatever management team has been in place at Ebbsfleet United, the club has always backed them with the resources that they identify, require and ask for.
You’ve seen new players come in and there will be further new recruits entering the building with existing players going out on loan to follow Giles Phillips’ move to Hornchurch – again, we know this takes time but this squad will be reshaped to make that happen during the remaining three-quarters of this season.
We communicated our plan at the end of last season to recruit a more ‘succinct’ squad of 22-24 players with a better spread/more targeted balance of starting positions throughout that squad. Given the long-term injuries we’ve sustained as mentioned above, we have straight away had to replace players to cover those injuries and to maintain depth in the squad. That would be true for any club in this division with a similar injury list. And with the efforts ongoing to turn around our results, this means of course that the squad is larger than we would want at the moment. Harry has identified players that have been listed and are available for loan now that everyone has had an opportunity to demonstrate their suitability for this level. How we balance that in our playing budget is very much in the work we do on player contracts. We incentivise playing appearances over and above basic salary, so where players might have been out for a period of time in the past, there are checks and balances in place to reflect value for money and mitigate any undue expense to the club.
My sole involvement in recruitment as CEO is to ensure the playing contracts we draw up each close-season protect the football club as best we can in a way that is also suitable for the players and agents, and allows leeway in terms of squad composition in situations such as the one we find ourselves in.
Most of all, we know results and performances are the main thing you all clamour for at this moment in time.
These are words of course, and you want and need to see actions. They come about through ongoing and effective recruitment, training, hard work and desire – none of that is in short supply at the Kuflink Stadium, and we are all absolutely committed to delivering that to you.
It’s been a poor four months and nobody feels that more than our supporters – now is the time to move forward. We value so very much the support you unfailingly deliver in getting behind the team but also understand the frustrations you naturally feel in the face of some very poor performances like yesterday’s.
To come full circle back to our reasons mentioned above to communicate this update to you, do let us know your feedback. If you have any further questions now or throughout the season, come and see me face to face, or send your questions to us via email/message etc and we will answer them in full and in public via further updates. We have held Q&A sessions online and in person in the past few months; now with Harry new into the job over the past few weeks, we will organise another of those – I know some of you prefer them in person and some of you online so we will weigh up the options for the next one.
Damian Irvine, CEO
