BRENTWOOD chairman Jez Dickinson jokes he might not have taken the helm at the Isthmian North club in 2019 if he’d really thought it through.
Fast-forward a few years and, like all Non-League clubs, they’ve had to deal with two ruined seasons due to the covid pandemic – as well as play-off final heartache on penalties.
But this season they’re in the promotion mix again under manager Keith Rowland while, off the pitch, they’ve launched Project 3G to raise £1million for a new artificial surface that’s booked in to be laid from May 7 next year.
No wonder Dickinson describes it as a labour of love.
“My son played for Brentwood Town youth and he was on the fringe of the first team before I took over,” Dickinson says. “The chairman at the time stood down after 20-odd years. When it came up, my gut told me there was a good opportunity here. I’m sure if I did all my due diligence, checked everything and looked at what the possible hassle could be, I would never do it!
“It’s a labour of love but, for me, it’s about a pathway through for the young kids, the academy, and into the first team and there should be a one club mentality.
“It’s easy to say it and use those words. To actually formulate that, and maintain it, is a tougher job. But that’s the key.
“I sort of had a five-year plan of two promotions to the National League South. Saying that, we had two years with no results so rather than May 2024, it’s May 2026 to realise that, I suppose.
“From my point of view, I don’t think there’s any point in doing anything unless you’ve got ambitions to be successful. It wasn’t a lifestyle, ‘I can just turn up any my club, have a drink at the bar’. That’s not me. It’s, ‘Can you make a difference?’ You have to have the courage of your convictions of what you can or can’t do.”
Dickinson uses Essex neighbours Aveley as one of many examples of a team who have been able to benefit from anew pitch and how it can build that one club mentality.
“The majority of clubs that have had that facility have been successful to create a vehicle for the club commercially and from an infrastructure point of view for the youth teams coming through,” Dickinson says.
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s a really tough project. We’ve probably been talking about it since March-April and then we got a team together from June onwards, to raise £1million for the pitch and stadium improvements.
“If we get the pitch down we’re looking to get more people over so we need the facilities etc. While you can’t do everything straightaway you need the facilities to complement the extra foot-fall. That’s working with the council, the community, our youth teams, academy, to create a facility that is open for everyone and an environment that’s safe and happy. It’s a four, five even sixpronged rationale.”
Project
Barry Hearn’s Matchroom Sport are club sponsors — “He tells me on various occasions, ‘Jez, I’m not investing in a football club!’ Dickinson laughs — and he hails the people at the club who are driving the project forward.
“Don’t get me wrong, we need to be successful and I want to get promotions but it’s more about what we can build for the club, the youth set-up and the academy,” Dickinson says.
“They’re all intertwined where you’re trying to grow them at the same pace.
“It’s trying to have an identity of what we are. To have that you need a concoction of the vision and the reality of what you can do.
“I’m lucky, I’ve got some really good people around me at the club who do a fantastic job. You need that.”
Around the Isthmian North play-off places, Rowland’s recent arrival as boss sees the Blues in good from, with one defeat since the end of October.
“I’m pleased with how it’s going — we’re working hard to punch above our weight,” Dickinson says. “We missed out on promotion two years ago against Canvey on penalties in the final. That was gut-wrenching.
“Maybe it was too early for us. That was my first full season. Although I would have taken it! But it might have been too soon. There are lots of good players and good teams in this league so no one can predict where you will finish but I’d like to think we could be there or thereabouts.”
