By Ian Townsend
YOU’D think that being chairman of the worst performing club in England would be a thankless task, but John Goss remains remarkably sanguine.
His St Francis Rangers side are currently bottom of the Southern Combination League, having lost game number 19 of 19 on Saturday, whilst that 15-0 annihilation at the hands of Horsham YMCA means they have conceding 127 goals.
Their very future is mired in uncertainty. His manager tried to escape in October but is still at the club because they’ve been unable to find a replacement.
Costs are not being covered by gates, and just filling the teamsheet on a Saturday is a constant battle.
Prospects
Yet Goss continues to spend almost every waking hour at the Colwell Ground and also to take positives from their plight.
Rangers, who are based in the Sussex commuter town of Haywards Heath, have held their own at Step 5 for a number of years.
In the summer, however, manager Glenn Charker decided to leave and the entire first-team squad then did the same, a number of them signing for newly-resurgent neighbours Haywards Heath Town and SCFL Premier League rivals Hassocks.
County League stalwart Dave Shearing took the reins but with no budget has been unable to build a competitive side, and has largely fielded U21 and youth-team prospects, along with a number of players who have come in for a short time and then left almost as quickly.
Results have included two 11-0 thrashings, one 10-0 defeat, and four occasions where eight goals have flown past. In reply they have managed only one goal, in a narrow home defeat to Hailsham Town.
“It’s really difficult,” admitted Goss, who as well as being chairman also looks after the kit, acts as matchday secretary, club secretary, cleans the changing rooms, assistant groundsman and has also been called to serve refreshments when the tea-lady didn’t turn up.
“We haven’t had a lot of luck. When we played Loxwood we hit the post and the bar before they scored and yet lost 5-0! At Chichester we hit the post at 0-0 and then they immediately took the lead. But when you’re down nothing goes for you.”
The Colwell Ground, located in the grounds of the Princess Royal Hospital, currently hosts three teams, with an U21 and youth side.
Goss is particularly proud of the youth team, who sit at the top of their league, and points out that the U21s would perhaps be similarly successful were many of their players not in the first team out of necessity.
“This gives the club real hope for the future,” he adds – and he is undoubtedly correct. But for this season it would seem that St Francis Rangers need more than hope; they need divine intervention.
