Monday 7th April 2014 Welcome to the latest Club update. It's been another mixed week for the Salts. The euphoria of a very late winner against Windsor was followed by a home defeat against Camberley Town. Although this just underlines the fact that we are unlikely to win the title this year, it also goes some way to explaining why. We know that we can beat South Park as it's about belief and until Saturday we had a 100% record against every other club in the top six. However, our consistency levels have been at fault and that is why our rivals from along the A217 are the ones winning the League this year. We can still catch Camberley and arguably have the better run in for second place, but we look set for third at worst as other results below us went our way, which isn't all bad when you take a step back and look at our achievements. So let's step back and have a look. As the season winds down, what have we learned at Epsom this term? On the field, we are about to register our best League finish since 1984 and still have a shot at a Cup competition, albeit without the suspended Mark Jarman. This is a mostly good point, although it has to be said that more and more clubs are not paying their players anywhere near what we are, assuming that we are paying at a similar rate as we did last year, as I wouldn't divulge any official information like that here even if I did know. Off the field we are desperately short of numbers, yet the club stubornly refuses to advertise itself in a way that might attract new or lapsed supporters to the club. It refuses to acknowledge this web site, despite the interest it would bring to many of those lapsed supporters, and couldn't even put the League Cup on display with exception of one afternoon standing in the middle of Hook Road Arena. Don't get me wrong, I didn't exactly expect an open top bus parade, but we missed a great opportunity there. The latest embarassment occurred on Saturday when we had to witness Lyndon going off to get the footballs that were being knocked out of the ground; hardly an ideal situation when you are trying to Manage the club! As we get close to marking 21 years since leaving West Street some difficult decisions are required by those who are off the pitch. The largest of these will be regarding the playing budget. To reduce it would surely result in some if not all of our best players and possibly even the Manager departing which would not be a good thing in my opinion. However, are we actually ready for Step Four either on, or off the pitch? Well, on the field we are probably capable of surviving, although that is a dangerous game to play. We would probably need more players, yet the travelling would be greater and as we've seen with the departure of Kyle Hough this season, travel can be an issue. Off the field, there will continue to be issues with reference to any new ground until either we get one, or we fold. In the meantime I'd like to see the club advertise for a Commercial Manager with experience and put them on a 10-15% commission basis. If they can raise £7-£10,000 a year, they will be more than worth the £1,000 or even slightly more that they will have earned as a result. In addition, we need a plan for the future and that looks extremely unlikely as we continue to be firefighting and reactive. More people need to be involved with this club and without advertising they only have a handful of supporters to choose from. Finally, just to answer anybody who may be thinking, "if you don't like what is going on, why don't you get back involved?" I have offered to help on a few occasions this season, but my offers have been turned down. The club still refuses to acknowledge this web site, largely because it now gets more hits than the "official" site and until they wake up and smell the coffee and start thinking ahead again I fear for this club right now. At least in Lyndon they've found a new ball boy! Come on you Salts!