Manager's Update

It has certainly been an eventful campaign so far for everyone at Margate! Having gone through a spell on the road and ahead of Saturday’s trip to Kingstonian, we wanted to check-in with supporters to provide a bit of an update from the dressing room.

The concept of ‘luck’ in football is a debatable one at the best of times, but make no mistake, fortune has not been on our side when it comes to injuries this season.

From the niggles our ‘fit’ players are currently carrying to more severe injuries across the squad, it’s a far longer list than we’d wish – or ever anticipate - to have to update you on.

The road to recovery can be a long one with appointments, scans and infuriating waiting lists to overcome; and whilst some weeks there is not too much progress, we feel now is an appropriate time to run through our current situation:

• Alex Brown is due to have his operation in January on his ACL which rules him out for the rest of the season.
• Kane Haysman will begin his rehabilitation after his ACL operation but unfortunately won’t play this season.
• Tom Wynter is currently in a boot for his ruptured Achilles and is waiting on another scan to see if he will require an operation or remain in a boot to help with healing. Tom will be out for at least 9 months and won’t play again this season.
• James Rogers is booked for surgery on his medial knee ligament injury in early December. Until this procedure is complete, it is difficult to estimate how long his rehabilitation will take. We are hopeful - if all goes well - we could expect to see Rogo back with us the end of January.
• Leroy Lita has been unavailable due to a broken hand. Leroy is waiting on a hospital appointment to change his hard plaster to a soft cast which will enable him to resume training. We hope Leroy may start training again next week.
• Alex Flisher is continuing to make promising progress from his long-term injury. We monitor and manage Alex’s recovery as best as we can each week. We are sure you will agree that it was a real positive to see Flish score his first goal in a Margate shirt a couple of weeks ago.

Moving from injuries and onto the pitch. Our form on the road has been excellent, with one defeat away from home so far this season. Our home form has been less pleasing, and it is something we are working hard to address. With your help, Hartsdown Park was a real fortress last season and we want to re-charge the feel good factor around the place.

After one loss in the last seven League games, we find ourselves in the top half of the table which our squad deserves a lot of credit for. With such a small group, rotating (let alone resting) players has not been possible and our last two games in particular have said a lot about the character within this group.

With injuries to key and experienced players, we have been able to give younger players the opportunity to play week in, week out. This is invaluable for them. We have regularly started matches with seven 22 year olds or under in our squad, most of whom are starting and playing at this level for the first time in their careers. Henry Newcome (20), Jack Paxman (20), George Brown (20), Ben Swift (21), Sid Sollis (19), Jordy Robins (22) and Chris Barnard (20) have all stepped up to the plate and taken the responsibility on board, demonstrating maturity beyond their years.

The rest of our squad is made up from players within our Under 23s set-up and the likes of Harvey, Leroy and Owen who have generously agreed to come in for nothing.

With the way the season has gone so far, there is no reason why we can’t put together a run at the right time to make a push for the play-offs but it’s certainly not the expectation from within football club, especially with consideration of the amount of contracted players we have watching from the stands.

The football club is in a fantastic position courtesy of the backing and hard work of the owner and directors. The investment the owner has put in already has shown real intent to benefit all the teams under the Margate banner, besides the local community, and this will only continue to grow.

The infrastructure behind the scenes is starting to shape up well and it is an exciting time to be involved with the club. During our time at Margate, monumental strides have been made within crucial components of the club’s operations. 

We all strive for three points come Saturday afternoon - our players, staff and volunteers too - and they do whatever they can to make match days even more enjoyable.

There are some really great things happening at Margate FC and we all appreciate your continued support and hope to repay it with some good results and performances. 

Mike and Browny 

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