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Category Archives: Woking FC

Woking FC v local residents: why it’s all kicking off …

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ILLUSTRATION: WOKING COMMUNITY STADIUM

The deadline is Friday 10 January to register support or objections to dramatic plans to redevelop Woking football club’s ground, with the aim of increasing its capacity and putting the National League club’s finances on a long-term, stable footing. It’s a plan that has enraged many living nearby, and looks like becoming Woking’s biggest planning row in many years.

In the red corner (Woking play in red and white) are the football club, developers GolDev, and, arguably, Woking borough council. In the other – let’s call it the blue corner – is South Woking Action Group, a vociferous band of local residents who deplore the number of tower blocks of flats included in the plans, and argue that the Cardinal Court development is completely out of keeping with the area.

Back in the red corner, the Woking Community Stadium website is urging supporters to sign up to back the project: “Please help ensure the council make the right decision about the future of Woking FC, its role in our community and the need for more high-quality homes in the borough.” It claims that “residents of Woking want regeneration and want to put our town and football club on the map”. [Well, not all residents, m’lud].

The website goes on to say: “The planning application for Woking Community Stadium was formally submitted on 2 December 2019 and we expect a decision from the council in early 2020. It is time to stand up for our town, community and club, and demand the progress most of us seem to agree is wanted and needed.”

Fighting talk, you might say. Interestingly, there is little or no mention of the more than 1,000 new homes in the blocks of flats planned around the stadium – the blocks that are at the heart of the residents’ objections.

ILLUSTRATION: WOKING COMMUNITY STADIUM

The financial justification for the scheme centres on the club’s current plight. The club says that the existing stadium is no longer fit for purpose and it can’t afford to carry out repairs that are needed. It survives on a “threadbare budget” – Woking is the only part-time club in the fifth-tier National League – “ultimately relying on volunteers and goodwill. The club can no longer rely on handouts to survive. The football club has been losing money for years and this plan will put us in a sound financial footing.”

The plan to increase capacity to around 9,000 – Woking currently averages crowds of just below 2,000 – is aimed at eventually securing the club’s promotion to the Football League. It is argued that more success will increase gates. The redevelopment will include shops aimed at serving the flats, and it is intended that the regular income from these retail outlets will secure the club’s finances.

The South Action Group (Swag) was formed soon after the plans were announced. It has an active social media presence and a smart logo. It argues that it is not against the football club improving the ground, but would like to see it done on a piecemeal approach, and fears that this big redevelopment is over-ambitious, and could actually lead to the club folding.

South Woking Action GroupIn a series of social media postings, it has listed its fears and objections. These include allegations that the developer is indulging in “false advertising”, that the development does not include the right kind of housing, the sewerage system could not cope, and that Woking council is loaning £250m to the developers when it is already one of the most indebted local authorities in the country.

A few months ago members of the action group picketed Woking fans as they were entering the ground for a home game, handing out leaflets that explained their objections. Wokingmatters encountered one objector as he went in, who on inquiry turned out to be a former season-ticket holder at the club. In recent days the action group said that three of its protest placards had disappeared from residential properties. The developers have already reduced the stadium’s projected capacity from 10,000 to 9,000, and added a health centre, after councillors asked them to revise the plans following residents’ objections.

The developer GolDev headed by Wayne Gold has a mixed track record, according to the Surrey Advertiser, with a previous proposed development at Braintee Town FC running into trouble, for instance. The Non-League Football Paper reported: “Interestingly, and perhaps something that will make Woking fans cautious, is that Gold attempted a similar project with now National League South side Braintree Town in 2008 to move the club into a new stadium and build 500 homes nearby. The following year, Gold sought a second developer to help fund the stadium. Subsequently, the plans were dropped before another attempt to build housing was made in 2015 – without the football club – but every councillor on the planning committee voted against the proposal.”

If the plans are approved, construction of the new stadium might begin next year. The team would have to play its fixtures somewhere else for two years while building takes place. A decision on the planning application is expected in March or April 2020.

This feels like both an exciting and dangerous time for Woking FC and the residents, and maybe the council as well. Local pride in the football club and ambition, and a longing for things to stay as they are, are all involved. Can the circle be squared?

A new future for Woking FC? Let’s hope it stays true to its roots

Woking’s 2,000-seat stand full to the brim before the FA Cup game against Watford

Woking’s footballers got back to winning ways on Saturday, beating lowly East Thurrock United 3-0 after a couple of recent home defeats that had dented their hopes of winning automatic promotion back to the Vanarama National League from the South division at the first attempt.

That much-needed win came a couple of days after more news was announced of far-reaching plans to redevelop the ground at Kingfield, and increase its capacity from the present 5,700 that squeezed in to see Woking take on Premiership Watford in the FA Cup third round at the beginning of January this year.

Woking never looked like beating Watford in that 2-0 defeat, but they were not humiliated and gave a good account of themselves. It added to the present feelgood factor around the club at the moment, boosted by a manager who clearly knows what he’s about, and a loyal following.

Two days earlier Woking’s splendid local paper, the News and Mail  –  whose coverage of local football, including Westfield, Sheerwater and Knaphill, as well as Woking is unsurpassed – reported more details of a plan to build a new stadium at Woking’s Kingfield home, involving Woking council and developers and the construction of flats plus retail space on land surrounding the ground.

That’s how new football grounds generally get funded these days. And it’s clear that much of Woking’s existing stadium – apart from its marvellous, 2,000-seater Leslie Gosden stand, built with council help in the 1990s – does certainly need an upgrade.

At first there was talk of making Kingfield an all-seater stadium, which would have destroyed the existing atmosphere generated by the covered terracing behind one of the goals, and another terrace area with the proud name of Moaners’ Corner.  But the club will take the views of supporters on board, and almost certainly there will be still some standing areas in the new plans, Woking’s chairman Rosemary Johnson, who is also a former mayoress of Woking, has indicated.

Wokingmatters stood on Moaners’ Corner for this year’s big FA Cup tie, and secured our place for the all-ticket affair by buying a season ticket for the remainder of the season. Money well spent, and not begrudged at all. It meant that we were there for the last three home games, the 0-2 defeat against Wealdstone, the hugely controversial 0-1 game against Dartford, which saw two Woking players sent off in the second half, and Saturday’s much-better performance against “The Rocks” (East Thurrock).  The crowd topped 2,000 against Wealdstone, dipped to around 1,100 on a wet and windy night v Dartford, and was back to 1,600-odd on Saturday. The variation can partly be explained by the fact that many young families attend Woking games, and tend to avoid the school-night, past-bedtime evening matches.

There is always a downside to huge new redevelopment plans – and that is the disruption faced by local residents, and fans, too.  Woking may well be forced to play their football away from Kingfield – somewhere like Sutton or Farnborough – while the ground is rebuilt. That will inevitably mean lower gates in the interim, and maybe a loss of momentum for the team.

Be that as it may, Wokingmatters has meanwhile rediscovered the joys of what we would call authentic football – turning up on the day to pay at the turnstiles, without having to fork out a fortune for a ticket online in advance, journeying a short distance from your home to the ground, walking through the park to get there – that sort of thing.  An away trip to Slough – admittedly not far away – earlier in the season proved to be great fun. We can only advocate that more residents of Woking come on down to Kingfield, and help to push a successful bandwagon further along the road. Come on you Cards!

Fans on Woking’s Moaners’ Corner before the FA Cup match against Watford. It is hoped that the spirit of this idiosyncratic bit of terracing can be retained with the ground’s redevelopment

Thank you, Mr Gove! Plan to set up free school in Woking Park is legacy of former education secretary

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It is remarkable how a rough gravel car park in Woking is proving an enduring lure for those in the education world – and even for those on the outer fringes of it. Some people may recall that in 2009 a campaign group fought off a plan by Woking College, backed by Woking council, to relocate its campus to Woking Park, and, in particular, the gravel car park, which is currently used by coaches taking school pupils for swimming lessons, and by other coaches bringing fans to Woking FC on match days. Now Woking council is having another go, this time backing a plan by Hoe Valley free school, which succeeded in getting permission from the Department for Education last year to set itself up, even though it had not found a home. The putative school wants to put temporary one- and two-storey buildings on the car park site in Woking Park for at least two years. Woking council is backing this plan, although it admits it has no idea yet where the school and football coaches will go instead. A school in Woking Park will obviously cause extra traffic problems as well. Surrey county council, which recently admitted it could not provide places for all secondary school pupils that need them in the county because of a government funding shortfall , is supporting the plan. It doesn’t really have any other choice. Free schools, the brainchild of former education secretary Michael Gove, are state-funded but not controlled by the local authority. Gove, who was reshuffled last year from education because of his growing unpopularity among parents and teachers, had been accused of raiding other parts of the education budget to fund free schools. According to the Woking Advertiser, nearby residents are very unhappy about the current plans, and wonder whether the free school’s “temporary” site might not have to become permanent, if other plans fall through.

Giuseppe Sole is Woking FC’s local hero

Woking celebrated promotion back to the Blue Square Premier on Saturday after three years in the lower South division.  Amid scenes of triumph – and relief – at Kingfield, they avoided the angst of  the play-offs this time by taking the title and going up automatically, a great credit to the work of manager Garry Hill and coach Steve Thompson.  All the players also deserve praise – and one in particular. Giuseppe Sole, always a Woking favourite who like the prodigal son had come back home, has notched an incredible club record of scoring in the last 10 consecutive league games, including the penalty – at the second attempt – at Maidenhead that clinched promotion, pictured above. First signed from the Woking Academy, aged 18, in the summer of 2006, Giuseppe immediately became a favourite with the fans, particularly for his trademark free-kicks.  He was Woking’s top scorer in 2007-08 and again in 2009-10. But something went wrong with his form. In January 2009 he joined Ebbsfleet United on loan but re-signed for Woking the following summer. He then went to  Newport County in the summer of 2010 before going on loan to Dorchester Town and then Havant and Waterlooville, for whom he later signed permanently. Even after being brought back to Kingfield in the summer of 2011 by Garry Hill, he had a loan spell at Basingstoke Town in early 2012. But now this fans’ favourite  has really come home – and how! There is a wonderful letter from his mum Carmela  on the back page of the Surrey Advertiser that sums up the relationship between the player – known as ‘Gez’ to the supporters – and the fans. It says: “Just after Christmas Giuseppe was telling me how much he would love to be part of of the team to get promotion … being a reserved couple, Pino [his father] and I don’t appear to be as passionate and excited as all you proper fans are, but there is nobody more proud and happy than us right now.”

A successful Woking FC means so much to the town; chests and attendances swell. Now that Woking feel they are back where they belong, hopes are being raised once more, as they were in the 1990s, as to how far they could go. The club has been through troubled financial times in the last few years, and arguably the top non-league tier is a tougher place than when Geoff Chapple’s side went so close to promotion to the Football League.  But it’s all to play for next season – and let’s hope Gez Sole keeps cracking in the goals.

Postcript: He scored again in Woking’s last game of the season, a 3-2 victory at Chelmsford – 11 goals in 11 league games!

Picture: By permission of Woking FC photographer David Holmes 

Come on you Cards! Can Woking FC avoid the drop?

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A town’s sense of self-esteem is often bound up with the success of the local football team.  Which, in recent years, is unfortunate, in the case of Woking FC. For several years they have been hovering around the Conference (now Blue Square Premier league) relegation zone, and with only a few matches left to play, things are looking particularly dire this year. They are currently third from bottom. Woking may stage yet another great escape. But for many diehard fans with memories of the glory years of great FA cup runs and giantkilling acts, FA Trophy triumphs at Wembley, and almost-promotion to the Football League on more than one occasion, the present struggles must be hard to take. This season the problem has been lack of goals. It’s been the problem for a number of seasons, actually. I can remember, a few years ago, when the club was particularly cash-strapped, going to eight successive home games over a period of three months to show I cared, and not seeing them score once. I’m not even a fair-weather supporter anymore, as the picture above might indicate.  Yet Woking’s home attendances have stayed surprisingly resilient in the circumstances, with a hardcore of loyal fans cheering them on through thick and thin.  The crowd potential if significant success ever returned is still there.

Manager Geoff Chapple presided over Woking’s great seasons,  when they rose through the non-league rankings to gain promotion to the Conference.  The council helped them build a splendid stand, which still puts the rest of the ground to shame.  The likes of Tim Buzaglo (hat-trick hero of the great FA Cup giantkilling act at West Brom in 1991, see below) and former Chelsea star Clive Walker helped them to some momentous victories and titanic matches against league teams that made the whole football world sit up and take notice.

Those years have gone, and may never return.  But what of the future? An ambitous redevelopment plan that could transform the stadium at Kingfield has been put on the back burner because of the economic downturn, and the club faces a £300,000 deficit next season after long-time benefactor,  owner Chris Ingram – he of the extensive art collection that graces the Woking Lightbox – withdraws his funding in May. http://www.wokingfc.co.uk/news/detail/new-share-scheme/1087/  Manager Phil Gilchrist has said he wants to concentrate on the “winnable” matches among the club’s remaining games.  Admission prices have been reduced for the next two home fixtures, against Cambridge United and Kidderminster Harriers, on Monday and Wednesday night.

After those two games both resulted in defeats, including a 1-5 drubbing at the hands of Kidderminster, Gilchrist was sacked – and Woking promptly won with an 88th minute goal at Barrow. Can they do it?  We’d all hate to see them go down from the Conference. COME ON YOU CARDS!