Derry, you’ve recently handed over the role of Chairman to Jeremy Wilkins, how involved do you remain with Kings Langley?

“I have simply ‘changed hats’ and will now undertake the secretarial role with a focus on the administration side of the club leaving Jeremy clear to concentrate more on the strategic direction of the club. It will leave me no less committed or involved with the club’s affairs than I have ever been."

The administration side of a football club is something the casual fan may not give too much thought to, however, when running a football club that sits in the non-league this is a challenge that seems to get harder year after year.  Derry explains that with the success of promotion comes the privilege and challenge of having to meet the criteria and regulations of each league, as implemented by the Football Association(FA)

“There are mandatory standards laid down by the FA for each level of the Non-League pyramid. At our current level, Step 3, we are required to have covered accommodation for 500 spectators. 250 of this capacity must be seated accommodation. We have also had to add a further turnstile, an additional toilet block and a further refreshment outlet within the ground in order to meet the compliance standards for this level"

For a club the size of Kings Langley, these expenses are not easy to fund. Over the past decade or so football fans have been accustomed to financial take overs with multi millionaire investors as well as mega money TV deals leading to huge amounts of money being poured in to clubs, new transfer records being set and now financial fair play regulations coming in to effect.   But what happens when these finances are unavailable to you and you are trying to build a club from the bottom up?  Derry tells me how an increase in the seating capacity was recently met by volunteers and people associated with the club, by helping build temporary stands and installing the seats themselves. New kits for the upcoming season are also provided by the main shirt sponsor ‘Orbital Fasteners’ and they rely heavily on local sponsorship for the club to operate. 

 “The Club have been very grateful for the goodwill of local sponsors and there are plenty who have given us generous support. Notable amongst them are Kings Langley Building Supplies, Kings Langley Services Club, Marlowe Digital and ‘Inspired’, a local fitness gym.”

To boost, Kings Langley have recently secured a partnership with Watford F.C Ladies who will play at Kings Langley’s home ground for the 17/18 season. This has led to heavy investment in improving the pitch which has been funded by Watford Ladies F.C. Derry hopes these improvements will also help attract players to the club.

“We are very grateful to Watford Ladies and it is also an important improvement for them. We simply could not have made the investment without them. Some maintenance work has to take a backseat with our budget. The investment is an indication of how good the partnership is and how good it will hopefully continue to be. It is no secret we are not going to be able to offer the most money in the league and I doubt we will be challenging for the title at this stage, you have to try and attract players with the promise of improving and developing them.”

With the subject of money being brought up I asked what the average earnings per game would look like for a player at this level and if there was much, if any, prize money available to clubs in and around these divisions that could help boost revenue.

“For various reasons it would be wrong of me to be too specific regarding player remuneration.

Similarly, I can only speculate on the earnings of players at this level. The best indication I can give is that if a player is sought after I would expect him to have the aspiration of a three figure salary. I can tell you that is certainly not the average at Kings Langley.

The Club won £3000 for winning the league (Evo-Stik League Southern Division One Central 2015-2016) A tidy sum for a club with our resources. However the whole sum had to be re-invested in the club’s infrastructure to meet the ground grading requirements.”

The grading requirements Derry refers to are those of the increased stadium capacity, additional turnstiles, toilet blocks and refreshment outlets he described earlier.  Each club has to be self-sufficient; as it stands the league sponsors only provide 15 match balls per club, there is no funding from the league for playing in this division or further prize money dependent on finished league position.

 On the subject of investing in the club, it was a case of out with the old and in with new when it came to Kings Langley’s reserve team as this was disbanded in an effort to maximise first team league status.  An affiliation with a local football academy was put in place to feed potential talent into Kings Langley’s youth team. 

“Dispensing with the Reserve side was a very reluctant decision for the club but we felt having unexpectedly found ourselves in the Southern League Premier division we had to focus our resources on attempting to sustain the first team’s status in the division. The association with the West Herts Academy is intended to provide a potential pathway into Senior football for the Academy students. The Academy has a significant intake of students each year and course instructors will be able to recommend those students suitable for transition to senior football."

How often does the first team train and for how long?

"The team generally trains twice a week depending on midweek fixtures usually for two hours.

The structure of the session usually includes a combination of fitness and tactical awareness. In addition, pre-season training has included the involvement of a specialist conditioning coach with a view to maximising fitness levels."

What would you say the main difference is when transitioning from an amateur youth level to your senior side?

"The League operates under a semi-professional banner and there is a very professional approach to the games. This is evidenced by a high level of fitness and commitment displayed by players. Coaching staff tend to be very experienced and there is a high degree of tactical awareness. Add to that much higher spectator attendance than we have been used to and it has been quite a culture change for us but one we want to wholeheartedly embrace.

In truth, it is what you would expect if you progress to the higher echelons of sporting activity."

What do you find is one of the biggest struggle for clubs at this level?

"The time taken for travel commitments at this level is a huge challenge for a club like us with limited resources. All of our players have ‘day jobs’ so it is asking a lot to take large ‘chunks’ out of their working day to represent the club.

The current league policy is that if a Saturday fixture is postponed then the match is re-arranged as a midweek fixture. That could be 150 miles away and obviously involve a return home in the ‘small hours’.  I think the problem could be greatly alleviated if midweek fixtures could be routinely re-arranged closer to home and the longer trips always scheduled on a Saturday."

With Kings Langley’s population being as small as it is, Derry explains the importance of local support the club receives, not easy to come by with neighbouring clubs like Watford F.C currently playing in the premier league.

"You have to be realistic when living in the shadow of a professional club, particularly a Premier one. They are always going to be a primary attraction. Many of our supporters are in fact Watford season ticket holders who support us when Watford are away. We do try and encourage local support and by and large, in relation to the ratio of the village population attending matches, we do reasonably well."

While three back to back promotions and prize money may sound glamorous on paper it’s been a trying time for Kings Langley F.C as the club’s success had other clubs sniffing around the potential talent. Kings Langley would go on to lose the managers and majority of their starting 11 that helped them secure the back to back promotions to Hayes and Yeading F.C. However, there is no resentment here and it all made survival on the last day that much more remarkable as Derry explains.

“The former management left a great legacy at the club with three successive promotions. Those sorts of achievements are conspicuous.  They were always going to attract the attention of other clubs with greater resources than us ready to make enticing offers in the hope those feats could be repeated on their behalf. It happens in football and was a feature of the steep learning curve we endured playing at the highest level the club has ever been.

It made our ultimate sanctuary all the more satisfying. Staying in the division amid the trauma of an exodus of players and management was a great achievement. Huge credit for that must go to the current manager, Paul Hobbs. What he and his coaching staff have done here in maintaining our premier division status in the Southern League, simply cannot be understated.

On a ‘shoestring’ budget they have made the players better players and the team a better team.

All in all, it’s been a total team effort both on and off the pitch to ensure the club’s survival.” 

On the evening of this interview Kings Langley hosted a young Watford F.C side in their last pre-season friendly.  A game which would end 1-1, leading them nicely into the start of a new competitive season in the Southern Premier League.