Post by Finnish Gas on May 30, 2014 18:17:54 GMT
Eastleigh spending should send shudders through Conference clubs
By mikebakerwmn | Posted: May 29, 2014
Just in case anybody had forgotten how tough the competition will be for Torquay United in the Conference Premier next season, Eastleigh have certainly delivered an emphatic reminder.
Grimsby Town, Wrexham, Lincoln City, Kidderminster Harriers and, of course, Bristol Rovers – we could all have got our heads round the likes of them having a go. But Eastleigh?
Yes, the Hampshire club has just lifted the Conference South title But they were still a Wessex League club 11 years ago, and it has taken them nine seasons to get out of the Conference South.
A town with a population of 125,000 has to compete with traditional local loyalties to nearby Southampton and Portsmouth. So, although they pulled in a thousand fans for a key game at their Silverlake Stadium against promotion rivals Dover Athletic in April and 1,500 against local rivals Basingstoke Town a few days later, their normal gates hover around the 650-700 mark.
None of that has stopped them sending a shudder through the Conference over the past couple of weeks, signing strikers James Constable from Oxford United and AFC Wimbledon’s Jack Midson on two-year contracts.
The comparisons between Eastleigh and Fleetwood Town, who have come from even more modest beginnings to reach League One on the back of six promotions in ten years, are as obvious as they are inevitable.
Midson had been one of Torquay’s top summer targets. Manager Chris Hargreaves was prepared to make the former Histon and Oxford United forward one of the best-paid players at Plainmoor, and the Gulls were close to concluding a deal.
Northampton Town, who stayed in the Football League on the last day of last season, were also in for Midson, and the Cobblers have been splashing the cash a bit of late.
So for Midson and Constable – who turned down a new deal at Oxford – to opt for Eastleigh shows what sort of packages the new boys were prepared to offer.
Eastleigh, do not forget, are not full-time – they train twice, sometimes three times, a week – but they are sponsored by an Oxfordshire-based insurance company, Bridle, which also has links with Oxford United.
The warning to be heeded is that, for every Crawley Town, there’s a Stockport County. For every Fleetwood, there’s a Darlington.
Read more at www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Eastleigh-spending-send-shudders-Conference-clubs/story-21162861-detail/story.html
By mikebakerwmn | Posted: May 29, 2014
Just in case anybody had forgotten how tough the competition will be for Torquay United in the Conference Premier next season, Eastleigh have certainly delivered an emphatic reminder.
Grimsby Town, Wrexham, Lincoln City, Kidderminster Harriers and, of course, Bristol Rovers – we could all have got our heads round the likes of them having a go. But Eastleigh?
Yes, the Hampshire club has just lifted the Conference South title But they were still a Wessex League club 11 years ago, and it has taken them nine seasons to get out of the Conference South.
A town with a population of 125,000 has to compete with traditional local loyalties to nearby Southampton and Portsmouth. So, although they pulled in a thousand fans for a key game at their Silverlake Stadium against promotion rivals Dover Athletic in April and 1,500 against local rivals Basingstoke Town a few days later, their normal gates hover around the 650-700 mark.
None of that has stopped them sending a shudder through the Conference over the past couple of weeks, signing strikers James Constable from Oxford United and AFC Wimbledon’s Jack Midson on two-year contracts.
The comparisons between Eastleigh and Fleetwood Town, who have come from even more modest beginnings to reach League One on the back of six promotions in ten years, are as obvious as they are inevitable.
Midson had been one of Torquay’s top summer targets. Manager Chris Hargreaves was prepared to make the former Histon and Oxford United forward one of the best-paid players at Plainmoor, and the Gulls were close to concluding a deal.
Northampton Town, who stayed in the Football League on the last day of last season, were also in for Midson, and the Cobblers have been splashing the cash a bit of late.
So for Midson and Constable – who turned down a new deal at Oxford – to opt for Eastleigh shows what sort of packages the new boys were prepared to offer.
Eastleigh, do not forget, are not full-time – they train twice, sometimes three times, a week – but they are sponsored by an Oxfordshire-based insurance company, Bridle, which also has links with Oxford United.
The warning to be heeded is that, for every Crawley Town, there’s a Stockport County. For every Fleetwood, there’s a Darlington.
Read more at www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Eastleigh-spending-send-shudders-Conference-clubs/story-21162861-detail/story.html
