The Demise of Grays Athletic Football Club

27th September 2005: Dagenham and Redbridge 1…Grays Athletic 2. Stevland Angus has just taken Grays Athletic three points clear at the top of the Nationwide Conference while Essex rivals Dagenham and Redbridge drop down to a humdrum 10th. Five hundred ‘G-Men’ mustered in the Pondfield Terrace are maniacal, I walk dolefully towards the exit not quite being able to comprehend what quite has just happened. “One Team in Essex, There’s only One Team In Essex” is echoed ardently throughout Victoria Road. Grays Athletic had expedited up the non-league hierarchy to not only become the best non-league side in Essex, but the best non-league side full stop. Nearly five years down the line, to pronounce that these two Essex clubs paths had gone different ways would be the grandest of understatements.

Gary Hooper, Aaron McLean, John Nutter, Dennis Oli and our very own Stuart Thurgood (who incidentally scored) were present that night. Now, are all household league names, this was a exceptionally talented team which under the prudent guidance of current Barnet manager Mark “Stimo” Stimson, won the F.A Trophy at everyone’s favourite second team’s stadium: Upton Park and took Grays to the Conference play-offs, only to miss out narrowly 5-4 on aggregate to Halifax Town. The mercurial rise of such a small club however was primarily due to one man- the prosperous Micky Woodward.

A name now recognised by many in Essex was the monetary vanguard behind Gray’s assault on ‘tinpot’ grounds around the country. Felicitous and hungry for success, Woodward was upsetting the non-league pyramid but pleasing many outside of it. Ricky George wrote in a Telegraph article a week before Grays encounter with Dagenham and Redbridge; “It's a great story and one that supporters up and down the country will be following with interest”. The former chairman of Barkingside FC was certainly more likable than the arriviste Karl Williams who fell before him after orchestrating a similar raid on non-league football with Hornchurch FC until his company Coldseal Windows went bust ultimately triggering the liquidation of the club.

But polite and passionate as Woodward was, his ambition was somewhat disillusioned and simply unrealistic. While his first five years as chairman were marked by incessant success, the past five years have been nothing less than a disaster. Betting allegations, point’s deductions, floodlight failure (many Dagenham fans will sympathise with this one) and managerial chaos have all culminated in what many could say the demise of Grays Athletic Football Club. At one point, Woodward tried a stint at management without any previous football experience…madness. However if Grays thought it couldn’t get any grimmer, regrettably it just has.

Goodbye to Bridge Road.

Now under a new regime including ex- West Ham player John Moncur and Chief Executive Andy Swallow, Grays Athletic are waving goodbye to the New Rec where they have played for 120 years after the owners decided not to extend the clubs lease for next season. Memories of Bridge Road are most likely irksome for many Dagenham fans. Many won’t have forgot the infamous F.A Trophy game when ‘massive’ Dagenham and Redbridge turned up with over one thousand fans which Woodward really hadn’t prepared for. However, I always admired that Woodward had the courage to walk over to us himself, the exasperation of over 1,000 Daggers couldn’t have been a nice experience, although I can’t help but think that enmity is something he is quite use to closer to home.

Many Essex fans will have seen that Grays finished bottom of the Blue Square Premier this season on a dour twenty six points. However the failure to beat the drop stretches much deeper beyond that simple figure. Without a ground, they have no other choice than to ground share, although the most likely target is East Thurrock which is six miles away, hardly desirable. With attendances now barely reaching the three hundred mark, even the strongest of optimist will struggle to see a future for the club as they plunge back down to non-league obscurity. Not only do they need to find somewhere to play, they need to find a league to play in. The Ryman League Premier has refused them entry, although they have subsequently appealed this decision. Meanwhile, 10 miles down the road, the club they looked to have overtaken in the football hierarchy were celebrating a promotion to the third tier of football, talk about grabbing your balls and sticking a finger up your arse while you’re there!

“Grays will be next” was the phrase being pontificated by most football teams five years ago including myself, however to say that I have been grinning disdainfully since they begun to deconstruct would be very wrong. I may not speak for most Dagenham fans, but Grays Athletic is the only side that felt like a true Essex Derby. The disappointment, grief and hurt from that night were emotions that should be felt from a derby. Yes, the skirmishes with Barnet and Southend have fomented some spice but have they ever been truly believable? Losing at Underhill has become as inevitable as an England keeper fucking up in a major competition, it isn’t a proper derby and I doubt it ever will be. If anything our relationship with Grays is now pretty happy bloody dory, we let them have our ex captain Anwar Uddin for a few weeks not that it made any contribution in their plight to beat the drop.

Rummaging into the politics at Grays would be a big step out of my depth, however from the outside it’s a pretty clear that a big lesson has been learnt. Football clubs shouldn’t be dallied with like a neglected toy. They are a human subsidence that carries history, emotion and a sense of togetherness. You only have to look at recent pictures of Scarborough’s McCann stadium to emphasis the message further. However let’s not forget that Woodward isn’t the only one that has chased the dream; the number of league clubs that have entered administration tells a story in itself concerning the mismanagement that currently exists within modern football, although not helped by a crippling recession.

As far as I know, Woodward is still part of the club and his early business endeavours have been replaced by a raw passion for the club, I hope together with Moncur and Swallow they can turn it around. Eastwood, Kightly, McLean are just some of the talent that Grays have produced over the past decade. They are a proud club with hard-working people. While Grays Athletic may not have died just yet, you can’t help but think they are laying perilously in their hospital bed waiting for their fate. I can only wish them good luck in finding a new ground, hopefully back in Grays and make a return to the Conference one day built upon graft, heart and living within their means. “One Team In Essex” they chanted, let’s just hope they are simply a team in Essex in the years to come.


UPDATE: Grays Athletic Win Appeal.

In the process of writing this blog, Grays Athletic won their appeal to compete in the Ryman Premier League next season, ground sharing at East Thurrock United. While the club still finds itself in a deep hole with many disquiet fans, this is great news for the club. I wish Andy Swallow and everyone at the club good luck as they try to rebuild the club.

Shaun (D&R)