Firstly, congrats to your own web-site wizard Daniel Dyer, he's now on the Board of the Supporters Trust and will be lending his much needed skills for the next 12 months at least.

You've all read the articles in the Dover Express and Mercury and you should understand we are trying to be as open as is possible in every area involved in running the Club. My septuagenarian mother, however, believes that Jimmy Winter has some dislike of me, brought about by his constant reference to me by my surname.

However, those of us who attended "the Academy" during the 60s will know this to be a formality, perpetuated by one Alexander S Pitceathly whose memory remains with me still. Mr P, whose shares a surname with Simon, head of some Banking fraternity in the UK, was a man with a style all of his own and in this it is Jimmy (why do we call him Jimmy, his name's Mark?) recalls this memory.

Mark (see, got it right) is a Leicester City supporter and I only ever knew one other - the late David Alcock. Dave was a great lad and a brilliant goalie. A certain Mr Pitceathly had this notion that, being a goalie, Dave would make a good wicket keeper! Petrified at the thought, a 12-year old Dave wondered off "somewhere behind the pavilion" but with true Yorkshire grit, enter a certain John Comley.

Many of you may have come across John (now 50) in several grades of Football and those of you who have will not have forgotten him in a hurry. John still lives (and plays) in the Deal area and is a constant topic of discussion between me and the multi-talented Robin Hastie. I best remember Robin from a crucial stage in a 5-a-side semi final at the Western Heights. With seconds left in the shoulder-height game, his Blue Streaks were awarded a free kick just outside my goal area. Being something of a "Rodney Marsh" at the time, Robin said to his team mates "I'll chip this over their heads" and promptly did, this being the last kick off the match and one they lost!

This rather long-winded pre-amble brings me back to the whole point of the message in that we have all known better times and some of them weren't that long ago. Bill Williams has recently left us, hopefully for happier times at Welling United and while the last season was one we'd rather forget, he was at the Club and instrumental in the Club's best Conference days.

We have to move on though and we've still much to do before a ball is kicked in anger. We need the support of the community if the Club is to survive and then succeed. I've read John Husk's contribution and (as you would expect) he has it dead right. We've laid down a 5-year plan. It is more about finances than football, but that's why I'm at the Club. Don't tell me I don't love my Football or my Club; its just that I have more to offer at a different level. When we go back to the Conference, it will be at a time when finances match expectations. You can't have Conference ambitions and payrolls with Doc Martens (no disrespect, Doc) attendances and finances.

So I say to my septuagenarian mother, if during the next 12 months, Jimmy (and the fans) call me no worse than my surname, I'll have few complaints.

MATT CARRUTHERS and Tommy Tyne have committed themselves to Dover for two years.

Manager Clive Walker, who is fighting hand over fist to keep his star players despite the club suffering relegation to the Dr Martens League, completed the deal with the two players on Thursday.

Versatile local lad Carruthers and talented young striker Tyne both had one more year to run on their existing contracts, but both extended for another year to keep them at Crabble until the end of the 2003-04 season.

Walker said: "They're both important players and I am pleased they're happy to stay here to help us fight our way back into the Conference. We really want to have a good go at trying to bounce back straight away and these two players are an important part of what we want to do."

Walker said all his contracted players are not free to leave, although the Whites boss did admit the club's account was still frozen - meaning that some players are owed money. However, the Dover manager has been in close contact with all his players and is still hopeful he can hold on to some of the key players, namely Lee Shearer, Jake Leberl and Neil LeBihan. But Walker is a realist and knows he might have to look elsewhere. However he still hopes they will stay.

He said: "They're good players. I'd want them to stay if we were in the Conference, so of course I'd love them to be around for our bid for the Dr Martens League title."

Walker is now going away to Portugal on holiday for a week, but his assistant, Paul Hyde, will continue the discussions with players while the boss is abroad.

General manager Bill Williams, meanwhile, has been appointed Welling's new manager - and chairman Mick Kemp said the club were hoping to speak to former boss Neville Southall about a possible return to Crabble.

Walker's position as manager is not in doubt. Kemp said: "Neville won't be getting involved in playing matters, but we do want to speak to him about what he might be able to do for this club."

Restrictions imposed on the Fans Forum section of this website have been lifted to encourage supporters to have their say about the club. The removal of the restrictions was suggested at a meeting of the Supporters Trust board on Tuesday evening. Director Steve Cattermole agreed with the motion and the club board hope this will encourage more open and constructive dialogue between the club and its fans.

DOVER ATHLETIC boss Clive Walker tonight completed his first signing for next season - and believes he has uncovered "the new Simon Wormull". Walker secured the signature this evening of central midfielder Lee Spiller from Ryman League club Chesham and could not contain his delight after capturing the 24-year-old former Gillingham, Gravesend and Margate player.

He completed the deal in a hotel in Maidstone and within minutes of the ink drying on the contract told the Dover Athletic official website:

"This is a major signing for us and I believe we've got a player of a similar calibre to Simon Wormull. I have known Lee for some years and keenly watched his career develop. He played a couple of first team games for Gillingham as a youngster and then went on to play for Gravesend and Margate. He's a great player and I'm delighted he has chosen to sign for Dover Athletic."

If the Whites manager is right, and Spiller does have the playmaking skills of former Dover star Wormull, the Crabble faithful will be very happy indeed.

Walker is determined to build a side that can win next season's Dr Martens League Premier Division Championship and a quick return to the Nationwide Conference, although the Whites boss does admit "it's not going to be easy". However he said:

"I want to get players in that will get us out of this league. We've got to win the championship to get promoted, which is no easy task, but that's what we are striving for. Dover Athletic is a club that has a good reputation, so it's not a completely thankless task trying to attract players here. Lee was one of two players I wanted for sure, so I am very happy."

Spiller joins Dover on a one-year contract and Walker hopes he will unveil another new signing later this week. The Whites boss also has other irons in the fire and plans to be busy in the transfer market this summer.

Walker also today signed 'keeper Paul Hyde for another season, but still has no news on the future of Dover's remaining out-of-contract players. Midfielder Jimmy Strouts joined Gravesend last week, despite not being offered better terms by the Conference new-boys and striker Scott Ramsay has signed for Dr Martens Eastern Division side Eastbourne Borough.

The Dover boss said: "I offered Jimmy a contract and Gravesend came along with a deal that wasn't any better than ours. But he's opted to join Gravesend, so that was his decision.

"Scott Ramsay has joined Eastbourne Borough. I wanted him to stay here, because he has potential, but he lives in Eastbourne and has just got a new job there too.

"The other lads out of contract are still deciding what to do. Lee Shearer, Jake Leberl, Kristian James and Neil Le Bihan have all been offered deals and I really hope they all sign.

"But Gravesend and Margate are in the market and there's always a chance they want to pick players up. I'm realistic and already making plans to cover ourselves if they decide to leave. We will probably lose a couple of players. Not because of money or what has happened at the club. Our players are ambitious and might not be able to resist the chance to play Conference football."

Dover's top scorer last season, Keith Scott, has another year to run on his contract, but it is still uncertain whether he will feature for the club again. Walker has to sit down with the skipper later this week to discuss his future.

Walker is on holiday in Portugal next week and will be in the United States for a month from the end of June. However he will still be on the phone on club business in Portugal and "everything should be in place on the playing side" before he jets across the Atlantic. Walker is clearly working hard and has only one thing on his mind: "To get Dover back into the Conference."

Clive Walker's preparations for next season have taken a blow with the news that influential midfield general Jimmy Strouts (right) has signed for newly promoted Gravesend & Northfleet. Strouts, who has played nearly 250 games for the Whites and scored 40 goals in his two spells at Crabble, signed for the Fleet on a free transfer.

Meanwhile forward Leon Kelly who impressed on loan from Cambridge at the end of last season has signed for Unibond League side Ilkeston Town.

FORMER Dover chairman John Husk said the club's return to the Dr Martens League could bring back the "good old days" but warned that Mick Kemp and his new board face an uphill battle.

Husk, who along with his brother Alan is the club's major shareholder, said: "It's a good job the club have been relegated. The new board wouldn't have had a cat in hell's chance of keeping the club afloat in the Conference with those debts. The Conference is becoming more of a big money league every year and it is that league that nearly killed this club."

However, it is the Dr Martens League where Whites will be plying their trade next season and, although Dover fans would rather be playing Yeovil, Woking and Halifax next season, trips to Folkestone, Crawley and Welling don't sound too bad.

Husk said: "The Southern League brings back many happy memories. It was there where we had all our success. Those were the good old days and they can return again, but it's going to be a big struggle as the club are not in as strong as a position coming back into the Southern League as it was when being promoted to the Conference.

"There are lots of local games so I think fans can look forward to those, but I do think that the club is going to need a couple of years to regroup before it can really be strong enough again to tackle the Conference."

However, times have changed since Husk, Chris Kinnear and Co. took Dover Athletic into the Conference nine years ago. The play-off system is being introduced to the Conference next season, ironically the year Dover will not be there.

With the Conference a dead league unless you were in the top three chasing the championship or bottom six or seven trying to avoid relegation, the play-offs are bound to improve attendance figures for mid-table clubs. Husk added: "The club will need more money if they are ever to compete at the top of the Conference again."

DOVER ATHLETIC have a new board of directors and now the hard work begins. The relegated Whites, who hope to be confirmed as a Dr Martens League club at the start of June, can now start plotting their way back to the Nationwide Conference - but only after they can get their house back in order. Local businessman Mick Kemp is chairman of a fresh four-man board, which has a Dutch of class about it. For Dutch shipping broker Marinus Kraak is on board alongside John Farringdon (Supporters Trust representative) and Steve Cattermole (finance director and company secretary). A support board will also be formed, hopefully next week, which will effectively be the club's management committee.

Kemp, speaking exclusively to the official Dover Athletic website, said: "Now the hard work begins, but we have a board now, so things really can begin to be sorted out at this club and our aim is to put it back onto a solid financial footing."

The new Whites chairman hasn't got a bottomless pit of money, nor does he have the kind of funds that ex-chairman Jim Gleeson had, but Kemp has a supporters-orientated board. And from the fans' point of view, the club is virtually in their control. John Farringdon has been a loyal stalwart, along with his wife Denise, with the Dover Athletic Supporters Club, serving as a committee member and chairman. He will be the Supporters Trust's representative on the board, while Steve Cattermole, another supporter, acts as the club's secretary and finance director. Kemp said: "We have so many things to do, but we're just delighted to be in the position we are now. Our first priority is to get some players signed up so we have a team for next season! Also we've got to get some games arranged so we have a good pre-season build up to the new season."

Clive Walker will definitely be the club's manager next season. His spells in charge last season were easily the highlight of what was, to be frank, a pitiful campaign that led to Dover being relegated from the Conference after nine years. The new Whites chairman said: "Clive's position doesn't change. The only thing that does change is that he can now start sorting the team out. Our priority isn't to bounce back straight away but if we win the Dr Martens League Championship and get promoted back to the Conference in one season I'll be jumping up and down like everyone else."

The club's bank account is still frozen but that is expected to be back up and running next week. Simon Harris, the Supporters Trust chairman, said fans have never been given such a big say in the running of the club as this. He said: "The Trust has a major say in what happens at Dover Athletic. No longer does the club have to rely on just one or a few individuals. At present, the Trust is raising £825 a month. We have a membership of 450 and that money is being financed by 80 people. If we could get everyone donating a little every month, or week, it raises the coffers and reduces the burden on a minority of people to help fund the club. The club can go as far as the local community wants it to."

The Trust now has a good size shareholding of the club and Whites' new board have a five-year business plan. Bill Williams, meanwhile, is still working at Dover Athletic and Kemp said he would be sitting down with him to discuss the future as soon as possible.

SIMON HARRIS, the Supporters Trust chairman, took time to answer fans' questions. These questions were put to Simon the week the board resigned, but Simon has tried to bring everyone as up to date as possible.

JUSTIN ALLEN: "Can you bring us all up to date with the Trust's involvement with the consortium bidding to take over the club?"

ROGER CONSTABLE, loyal fan for 50 years: "There has been discussion about the appointment and dismissal of Neville Southall. Unfortunately I only know what I read, but it seems that the Supporters Trust are in favour of his reappointment. Am I the only one who thinks that his appointment was wrong in the first place? Like the other disaster, Gary Bellamy, he had no idea about the Conference. I think we are lucky in having Clive Walker in the ranks. What is the Trust's view on the manager's situation and why is Nev being touted by Gordon Cowan as returning?"

SID PERKINS, of Whitfield Hill: "Has the Trust changed it's position regarding the return of Neville Southall to the club as manager and (or) does it now throw it's full support behind Clive Walker?"

ADRIAN FRIEND, of St Margaret's: "How can you justify withholding the £5,000 funds that you promised the club when they might not be able to play the four players on 52-week contracts during the summer? This money could be the difference between those players staying or not." This question was also asked by Mike Sole, of Sandwich.

STEVE ETHELBERT, of Folkestone: Why did the Trust not have a public debate in the media or a meeting before holding a ballot about whether to accept the club's "non-executive position on the board" offer? There's two sides to every coin and it would have been nice had the club's present board been able to present their case."

KEITH SANSUM: "Gordon Cowan has worked hard on your behalf. It appears the present board don't want him as part of any new set up. Will the Trust continue to support him as you have all worked very well together? Also does the Trust still support the results of its recent ballot?"

IAN HARRIS, of Snowdown: "How detailed are the business plans that have been presented to the shareholders and the present club board? Roger Knight says there are many flaws, but wouldn't go any further. Perhaps you can let us know what he means or if not give us your views of these plans. How do they benefit the club? And why have they been almost rejected by the Husks and the board?"

DEAN RICE, of Folkestone: "Can the Supporters Trust realistically be able to raise the funds needed to support a top Dr Martens League club - and, if we get there, a club challenging at the top of the Conference?"

ANDY WALLER, of Whitfield: "How will decisions be made by the Trust if it successfully takes over? Will there be an election every time something has to be done or will it be just one person making all the decisions?"

MARK DAVIES, of Deal: "The takeover package is being presented as a joint venture between the Trust and some local businessmen. Surely that's no different to the Trust working with the present board."

CLIVE WALKER is hoping to re-open talks with out-of-contract players as soon as this week.

The Dover boss, who has had to postpone his negotiations with the likes of Lee Shearer, Jake Leberl and Kevin Seabury because the club currently have no board, has been told things are beginning to move off the field.

Mick Kemp and his Supporters Trust-backed consortium have been holding talks with Whites' major shareholder John Husk and the club's creditors. They are hoping to finalise a deal by the end of the week.

Walker said: "I can't do anything yet. The players and I met Mick last week and everyone seemed reasonably happy. We just need all this cleared up, so everyone knows where they stand and can start building for next season."

The Dover boss said Leberl and Shearer are still Dover Athletic players and Seabury has already been offered terms for next season. However Walker cannot promise any of his out-of-contract stars will stay.

"I want to keep most of the players, but we are a relegated club and you lose players when this happens," said Walker. "No-one has signed Jake or Lee and Kevin is keeping his options open, which is fair enough. I've told him I'd love him to stay, so we'll just have to wait and see."

Tommy Tyne has another year to run on his contract and the Whites boss said the youngster, who was on-loan at Welling for much of last season, does have a place in his plans for next season.

CONSORTIUM leader Mick Kemp is meeting major club shareholder John Husk on Thursday and is hoping to finalise a rescue package with the ex-Whites chairman. Husk has to give his approval before the new consortium, including the Supporters Trust, can takeover the management of Dover Athletic. In the evening, he is meeting manager Clive Walker and the players to put everyone in the picture, but Kemp wants to quash some of the rumours doing the rounds, particularly in the press suggesting that the club could go into liquidation within days. Kemp told the Dover Athletic website:

"The chances of Dover going out of business is not on the cards as far as we are concerned. The suggestion that we can go into liquidation within days is not very helpful and just frightens everyone, although the club is massively more in debt than the outgoing board told us earlier."

The Supporters Trust have uncovered huge debts, which Kemp said are "far worse than we originally imagined". General manager Bill Williams told loyal supporters at Dover Town Hall a few months ago that the club were £120,000 in debt, a figure that "couldn't be further from the truth" according to one reliable source.

Kemp has effectively been managing the club himself the past week since the whole board's resignation. The Dover-based businessman, who runs a local plumbing and building company, admitted:

"Someone has to run the club, otherwise things will just get worse. So I've been spending a lot of time there this week and many meetings have been attended. We've made an offer to the club's creditors and I'm confident we can thrash something out. The trouble is, we've gone as far as we can now. It's all down to my meeting with John Husk. He, as majority shareholder, is effectively the owner of the club."

That means it is Husk's shout - but surely he will have no choice but to agree to allowing the new consortium to put their five-year business plan into action. Kemp told the local press that there would be a four-man board, with himself as chairman, and one member of the Supporters' Trust, their chairman Simon Harris. There would be a 12-strong support or non-executive board, again containing representatives of the Supporters' Trust. Kemp said:

"We have a five-year plan. We've worked hard on this and the first three years we'll concentrate on turning things around on the financial side and then we want to make ground improvements in the final two years of that plan. We just want to get in there and sort things out. It is an exciting challenge and everyone involved with this package are true Dover Athletic fans. We are 70 percent certain Dover Athletic will not only have a football club in three years, but we'll be back in the Conference too."

Meanwhile, the players are owed their final week's wages, but the club's bank account has been frozen. This is standard practice when a company's board resigns, as Jim Gleeson and his men did last week. Kemp had one message for the fans:

"Bear with us. We've had to do three weeks work in the space of seven days, as well as do our normal day jobs. Everything will become clear very soon.

DOVER ATHLETIC won't be ready for a Conference return for at least two years. That's the view of Mick Kemp, who is leading a joint consortium-Supporters Trust takeover bid for the club, said the five year plan his group have drawn up doesn't make provisions for Conference football returning to Crabble immediately.

He said: "Bouncing back straight away isn't something we're looking at. There's no point going back into the Conference with the debts we currently have. We need to have strong foundations and not make the same mistakes that have been made in the past.

"We've a five-year business plan and the aim is to get back to the Conference as soon as possible, but realistically that's probably going to be two or three years down the line, as it stands now.

"Rebuilding for the future is our aim and we're looking at strengthening all areas of the club. We just can't wait to get in there to sort Dover Athletic out."

Clive Walker has probably already lost Lee Shearer and Jake Leberl. The Whites boss admitted they were talking to Woking on Tuesday, but said he had no knowledge that they had actually signed on the dotted line yet.

Walker said: "They are two players I definitely didn't want to lose, but free agents can do as they please. We have eight out-of-contract players and the sooner the club is back under control the sooner I can sit down with my players to discuss next season."

Kemp confirmed the club has applied to join the Dr Martens League and are just waiting a response. But the club were extremely well liked in the Southern League (now sponsored by Dr Martens) and made many friends before being promoted to the Conference. "It's a formality, we'll be playing in the Dr Martens League next season," said Kemp.

CLIVE WALKER has admitted he is in limbo after the club's three-man board resigned earlier this week.

The Dover boss, anxious to know whether he is wanted as the manager next season by the consortium and Supporters Trust, fears he could lose up to eight players if he is not put in the picture quickly. Walker has eight players out of contract and he wants to ensure there is no mass exodus like last season. But he cannot offer contracts until he knows exactly where he and the club stand.

Walker said: "I hope they want me to still be the manager because I genuinely believe I can turn things around for the club. I'm not saying that winning the Dr Martens League is going to be easy, because it won't. But we already have the basis of a team that is more than capable of challenging for the title.

"I know the league well and it's basically a scaled down version of the Conference. There are some very good sides in there, but we've gone to some very difficult places in the Conference, so it won't be daunting for us. However I must find out what's happening very soon because otherwise we'll end up in the same situation as last year, losing everyone. I've spoken to the lads and will be speaking to them all again about next season, but until I know what the new board want I can't go offering new contracts to anyone.

"I would be grateful if someone from the consortium could give me a ring. No-one has yet, but I'm hopeful they will."

And so they should. Walker has been very loyal to the Whites and showed he is more than capable of steering the side. His results between Gary Bellamy's sacking and Neville Southall's appointment before Christmas, as well as after Southall's dismissal, were good - considering what was at his disposal. In fact, it's surprising no-one has been in contact with him yet.

Walker admitted: "I felt before Christmas we were heading in the right direction. And obviously, by the time Neville went, our good results at the end of the season were too late to save us. To be honest, we were never anything better than a lower mid-table Conference side, but I have a few players in mind who I want to bring in. They've all expressed an interest to join us, but again I need to know where we all stand."

The future of Dover Athletic Football Club is again in doubt following the resignation of the board of directors this week. Chairman Jim Pellett and directors Roger Knight and Jim Glesson have stepped down after failing to come to an agreement with principal shareholders John and Alan Husk. The Husks had offered to relinquish their shares if the board agreed to take on the bank guaratees in exchange. This offer was later withdrawn after the parties twice failed to reach agreement.

The departed board had been in control of the club for just seven weeks and were the third board of directors in the space of just six months.

The board upset some supporters with their decision to terminate the employment of former manager Neville Southall and failed to win over the full support of the club's fans, with former chairman Jim Gleeson in particular singled out for criticism from the terraces.

Gleeson and Roger Knight have invested large sums of money to keep the club afloat since they originally took over with John Spencer in November 2000. Knight told this week's Dover Express that he was "absolutely gutted". He said:

"In the end, we were left with no alternative but to resign as we were pumping money into the club without having any effective control."

In a statement announcing their resignation, the board restated their support for team manager Clive Walker and General Manager Bill Williams.

A consortium led by local businessman Micky Kemp and involving the Supporters Trust are interested in taking over the club, but as yet nothing has been resolved.

Meanwhile Margate are reportedly interested in ground-sharing with the Whites at Crabble next season whilst their Hartsdown Park ground is renovated. The Thanet club require a Conference graded ground for their fixtures and Dover is the only local option. No deal has been finalised yet and the proposal is likely to face opposition from both sets of supporters but could go some way to improving the financial position of the Dover Athletic.

CLIVE WALKER has compounded Dover fans' worst fears by admitting it is unlikely he will be able to keep Kevin Seabury and Leon Kelly at the club next season.

Facing Dr Martens League football next season, Dover now find themselves in a weaker bargaining position to attract top-quality players to Crabble. And midfielder Seabury and prolific striker Kelly, both signed by former boss Neville Southall, have shown that they are players who would easily slot into most Conference sides.

Walker wants to keep the duo, but warned fans: "I can't promise we can keep them."

The Whites boss said: "I'd love to have them here next season. If I was building a side to compete at the top of the Conference, they'd both be in my plans. They would still be in my plans if they wanted to stay. But now we can only offer them Dr Martens football and they both live a fair distance away from the club."

Margate are favourites to poach versatile Jake Leberl, although Walker will be moving heaven and earth to keep him, and others are sure to be offered deals at Margate or, if they are promoted to the Conference, Gravesend.

It is a nightmare scenario that now faces Dover, having to adapt to their new position not only outside non-league's elite, but outside the cream of Kent.

Walker said: "I want to keep most of the lads here. We have a half decent side, but you can never tell what might happen. I'm going to speak to all the players next week after the Yeovil game is out of the way. Hopefully I'll have everything sorted by the middle of June when I go out to America."

The Dover manager is coaching in the States and will be away from home shores for a month on June 20. He intends to have finalised contract renewals and player releases before his trip. However he admitted Bill Williams will tie up any loose ends while he is away.

He said: "I hope most things will be sorted before I go and Bill's around to pick up any pieces. It's only four weeks and I'm back for the pre-season games."

SUPPORTERS TRUST chairman Simon Harris is the latest leading club figure to be put in the hotseat to answer your questions. All fans are invited to post a question to Simon regarding the Trust at justin.allen@dailystar.co.uk by next Thursday lunchtime (April 25) and his answers will appear on this website at some stage the following week.

Simply include your full name, address and age and your question will be answered by Simon. Please try to keep your question as brief as possible.

DOVER ATHLETIC this week announced there will be no drastic cost-cutting measures despite relegation.

Board director Roger Knight, confident the fantastic Dover supporters will stick with them next season, confirmed the club are aiming to bounce straight back. He said:

"No drastic cuts are planned, just to keep to the budgets already set. I would expect that the club's loyal supporters will always support their team and in which ever league they find themselves."

A board meeting is being held this week to discuss further the implications of relegation, although the Whites director said this was scheduled before Saturday's defeat at Chester anyway.

"We have been working on next season for a number of weeks, regardless of which league we would be playing in," he added.

"Obviously we are disappointed, and believe Dover Athletic are a Conference club, but we must recognise this as an opportunity to re-group and build for the future. We want to return to the Conference as a better club both on and off the pitch."

Meanwhile, the board have moved forward "quite considerably" in their negotiations with the Supporters Trust, the new consortium and others.

As for Leon Kelly, Knight hinted the board will not stand in manager Clive Walker's way in attempting to secure his signature for next season. Kelly, who is on-loan at Crabble, was released by Cambridge United this week. He said:

"Leon is among Clive's playing staff and it is Clive's decision whether he will be part of next season's plans. Clive will handle all playing staff early stage negotiations."

Dover midfielder Jimmy Strouts who is nearing 250 games for the club is deservedly celebrating his testimonial year with a Dinner and Dance at the Town Hall on April 20th when popular Kent funnyman Dave Lee provides the entertainment. While two days later former Whites Boss Peter Taylor brings his all conquering Brighton side to Crabble to honour a man who would seemingly run through brick walls for the cause. Dover Express Sportswriter Matt Gerrard met the former Royal Corps soldier and finds that he is a man you would like to have on your side if you were in the trenches.

"I have to say I have loved every minute of my time at Dover, it is such a great family club and though we have had some highs and lows over that time, I honestly would not change a single minute of it".

31-year-old Strouts followed his Sittingbourne Manager John Ryan (one of seven he has played under for Dover!) to Crabble in April 1995, but this was not the first time he had played at such a high level he explained - "I joined the army at 16 and was always playing football and represented the Combined Services at all levels and was fortunate to play in far flung places such as Thailand and Hong Kong. We were really successful and the team which included Fulham keeper Maik Taylor won the Kentish Cup twice. This is the oldest International football competition in the world where we were pitted against the forces of Belgium and Holland and it was a brilliant experience and I have some great memories from that".

He soon became a key figure in the side thanks to his tough tackling displays and helped Dover to a miraculous escape on the last day of the season, which was rewarded with the Captains armband for the following season, something that he still treasures.

"I came in not knowing anybody but I felt I earned the respect of the lads immediately and when I was handed the armband I have never been so proud and it helped my game no end".

The arrival of Peter Taylor saw him became an even firmer favourite with the River End faithful and Taylor was easily persuaded to pay £300 to buy him out of the Army.

"I loved it in the army but I was playing so many games maybe four or five a week plus my Dover commitments and it was hard work. I had decided to go back to University to get a degree and everything worked out brilliantly and I will always be grateful for the club to agree to pay the money and the next two seasons I probably played my best football for the club."

Seasons 1996-1997 and 1997-1998 were his most prolific as he scored 13 goals in successive seasons to become the clubs top scorer - a fine achievement for a box-to-box midfielder - and in December 1997 he wrote himself into Dover's and the Conference record books when he became the first midfielder to score four goals in one game, all from open play, though modestly he states that it was team-mates who helped him so much.

"When you have players such as Dave Leworthy who must have set me up so many times and class midfielders such as Russell Milton, who could put the ball on a sixpence I think anybody could have scored, but those four goals were something else and that still is the only game I have ever scored a hat-trick in. That was probably my biggest high on the pitch but there have been some real lows especially the Trophy Semi-Final against Cheltenham when the referee robbed us. I have a reputation as a man who gets in trouble with the officials but I am not a dirty player, I am just committed to the cause and I think every Dover fan knows that".

Money difficulties saw Conference giants Stevenage persuade Dover to sell their most marketable asset for £15,000 in January 1999 and though it started well it soon went down hill.

"I did not want to go but the club needed the money and when that happens you have no choice but they made a nice profit on me. It turned into a nightmare as I was always on the bench, then the manager got sacked and the chairman seemed to take a real dislike to me. They are run differently to Dover, not as tight knit and when Bill said he wanted me back, I would have walked to Dover I was that pleased as Dover are my team."

So it turned full circle for the Civil Servant and though, not for the lack of trying, he has not been as prolific in front of goal as his first spell, he still pops up with the occasional important one, the commitment and the will to win seems to grow bigger and bigger for a man who thinks he has at least five years left at this level.

"I am happy to stay at Dover for as long they want me whatever league they are in. We have had our problems this season but the players here want to succeed and it would be great to reward the fans who have been brilliant despite all the difficulties".

He has also other ambitions that he would like to achieve - "Like everybody connected to the club a First Round FA Cup tie would be great and then a trip to Arsenal in the Third Round would be nice but all I am really concerned with is playing football and staying fit as it means so much to me".

An excellent evening of entertainment should be had at the Town Hall with comedians, magicians and an auction of a number of signed Permiership shirts amongst things planned. Tickets are still available priced at £30, by contacting Rachel@4goalhero.co.uk or June on 01227 731809. While on the Monday a host of Crabble heroes past and present plus Fulham stars Maik Taylor and Barry Hayles acknowledge a man who cares so much for the club that he has dedicated 5% of the proceeds from his two evenings to the newly formed Supporters Trust - "Dover is my team and I want them to succeed on and off the pitch as I am as much a fan as everybody who stands on the Terraces".

With his commitment and drive it is probably fit to say that if Dover had 11 Jimmy Strouts in the side they would not be in the position they are now but as the River End sing, there is only one Jimmy Strouts and they are just pleased that he is on their side and I for one second that. Have a great evening Jimmy - you deserve it!!

CLIVE WALKER is done to the bare bones for this weekend's lose-and-you-die match at Chester.

Whites could be relegated if they don't collect maximum points and results elsewhere go against them. And Walker, whose men are unbeaten in the last four matches, admits he will be taking a extremely patched-up side to Chester. He told the Dover Mercury: "We're down to the bare bones now, but I have got no other choice but just to get on with it."

Tony Browne (ankle) and Neil Le Bihan (back) both missed Monday's 2-2 draw with Woking, while Jamie Day is suspended for the Chester game and Darren Davies is out for the rest of the season with knee ligament damage. Keith Scott, who finished his four-month goal drought against Woking, is also doubtful for Saturday because of a knee injury and Jimmy Aggrey has left the club.

But at least Tommy Tyne's loan spell with Welling finishes this weekend and he will be available for Dover's last two games against Morecambe and Yeovil.

Walker said: "I hope that Tony Browne will be fit for Saturday, but Neil Le Bihan is 50-50."

WITHOUT PREJUDICE WHITES director Roger Knight has been this week taking time out to answer your questions via this website. He was impressed by the questions received and, as you can see, he hasn't pulled any punches.

JONATHAN BISHOP, age 18, is one of many fans outraged by Neville Southall's sacking. So he asks the question that many more have submitted for you: Why was he REALLY sacked?

Jonathan also asks: "Now that a new board has been formed, does that mean that the club is financially secure for the foreseeable future and will this mean that the club finally has some organisational stability?"

JAMES COTTON: Was the manager's position given to Neville Southall to raise the profile of Dover Athletic, so higher class players might be attracted to the area? Even though Neville had coaching experience before, wouldn't it have been preferable, considering Dover's league position, to have appointed a manager with more past experience?"

MARTIN LEIGH: When Jim Gleeson took over as chairman we were told good things were on their way for the club, including promotion to the Football League within a few years. Now look at us. What are the current ambitions of the Dover directors, remembering we live in the REAL world? And do the directors have the ability and the willingness to bring these goals to fruition?

SID PERKINS, age 51: I'd be interested to know more about the new directors. Can you give some background information on them? I'm also keen to hear what the hopes and aspirations for DAFC are?

NIGEL MOSELING: In view of the bad press coverage the club has had following the departure of Neville Southall, what plans have the new board got in order to turn the situation around? And will anyone be replacing Nev in doing the back-to-basics legwork of touting for business within a 20-mile radius of Dover with visits to local firms, schools etc? How much does the new board feel that the club's reputation has been tarnished by the recent goings on?

ANDY VARLEY, 31, who lives in Canterbury: I have recently moved back to the area from London and have been a Crabble regular for some time, even when living outside of Kent. I know more people who go to Crabble who travel from outside Dover than residents of the town. Given the potential catchment area, how is the club going to get local people through the gates and remove the apathy from residents of the town about the club?

JOHN ANDERSON, of Temple Ewell: How would I go about buying shares in DAFC? The problem is that DAFC is a private limited company, which means that shares (and the accounts) can be hidden away all over the place. As I understand it, the existing shareholders don't have to sell any shares they don't want to people they don't want involved.

STEVE ETHELBERT, a Whites fan from Folkestone: Is there a possibility Neville Southall will return to the club? And if there is any truth in the suggestion that Nev was banned for the home game against Hereford, days after his dismissal, why?

IAN SMITH travels thousands of miles throughout the season from his home in Harrogate to follow Dover. His questions are: Did the board not recognise the commercial gains that Nev was bringing to the club? Gates were 200-300 up on the Bellamy era with the club rooted to the foot of the table. A change of manager was not going to keep Dover up so late in the season, so why did they not wait until at least the summer or the start of next year?

Ian would also like to ask: The fans are suspicious of Jim Gleeson, in view of his resignation last November, which left the club facing receivership, and the immediate dismissal of Neville, once resuming control. Have you any message that might placate our fears?

Sutton-based Dover fan MARTIN SHAW, 62, asks: What is the board's plan for the future in regaining Conference status and how many seasons do they envisage this taking? This will need massive investment so how are the board going to confront this problem when they haven't got the money themselves?

Martin also wishes to ask: How does the board see the role of the Supporters Trust in helping to run the club and what is the maximum say that they will ever be allowed?

JOHN HOLLAND, 50, of Cranleigh Drive, Whitfield: When you and Jim took over the running of the club, some rash statements were made regarding us aiming to be a full-time club which amounted to an exodus of players and the arrival of Gary Bellamy, who was untried at Conference level. Do you now feel, with hindsight, a gentle approach would have been more appropriate, which would have carried the fans with you?

DAVE SHIRLEY, who is the cameraman for Dover Athletic match videos, lives in Hastings. He asks: While I still live in the belief that somehow, we'll stay up, I have to remain realistic and I can't see it happening. In all strategies there must be some kind of contingency plan - in our case for being relegated. I would like to know what the plans are for next season for a possible quick return to the Conference. I'm fearful that we would be dragged into a hole that both Welling and Hednesford have found themselves in. Kettering on the other hand have clearly done something correct in their first season in the lower flight and their crowds are hitting nearly the 2,000 mark. Is there anything we can learn from those teams?

HARRY REID, of Lyndhurst Road, Dover: A few seasons ago Mr Parmeter left the board after being refused the chairman's job when he wanted to put more money into the club. If the club has been struggling financially for several seasons, do you know why at that time Mr Parmeter's offer was refused, when just a year and a bit later the chairmanship is handed over to Mr Gleeson? (This is not a knock at Mr Gleeson).

Also Mr Parmeter said at that time he didn't like the direction the club was going and that they were going to struggle and go nowhere unless there was a major change of direction. Why were changes not made THEN to avoid the financial situation we are in now?

DOVER-born and bred Keith Sansum, age 21: Is there any truth in the rumour that Keith Scott has been offered to Farnborough and are all the players available for transfer?

ROD PEPPER has supported the club longer than he cares to remember and lives in Southampton: Will someone take responsibility for the unprofessional sacking of Neville Southall? Also where does Roger see the club in three years?

STEVEN KING, age 14, of Whitfield: Whatever happens this season, will Clive be in charge of the first team next year? If we do go down will the board keep faith with Clive or will he be sacked for poor results?

14-year-old GEORGE POOLE asks: Do you think the supporters are right by protesting about Neville Southall's dismissal?

SANDWICH-based Luke Dilnot-Smith, 21: Is there one moment or decision this board feels they truly regret and now wish they had come to a different decision, for example giving the job to Mr Bellamy?

PHIL TEALE, who lives in Washington DC, USA: I used to Live in Dover and was originally raised in Deal. I have been living in the USA for a few years now and regularly keep track of DAFC and sport in general. Why doesn't the club try to raise funds through a fans' stock purchase scheme? This would raise the sufficient funds to invest back into the team. It would also give those fans that have been supporters over the many years a chance to own part of the club. To me it seems that this is the only way that Dover will survive. I am one of those fans that would be willing to invest substantial money into this club to help save it. However I would be unwilling to unless the club can set a four-five year plan and stick to it. I don't see any options left for this club, it needs a new direction, needs to be brought up to a modern business approach. You can no longer operate a business based upon the way things used to be done. DAFC needs to pioneer a new business approach to football in the lower divisions, and although it is a a sport its also a business and one that needs to be profitable.

Dover Athletic today announced that manager Clive Walker had signed an upgrade to his present agreement until the end of season 2002/2003.

The new job title of Team Manager has brought many new responsibilities for Walker, on top of his usual coaching duties.

Commenting on the new position Walker said, "I'm delighted to have been given the opportunity to be Team Manager. I have great affection for Dover Athletic and I will do all in my power to keep us in the Conference."

Chairman Jim Pellat went on record saying "There's not a more capable person than Clive to get this team back on track and bring stability to the club."

Last week a statement was issued from the Club, which suggested that two additional directors had been added to the main board of directors.

This was not the intention, and the club would like to confirm that the main Board of Directors is as follows:

Jim Pellatt	Chairman/Company Secretary
Jim Gleeson	Vice-Chairman
Roger Knight

No other person has agreed to join the main Board of Directors at this time and the Club apologise for any confusion or embarrassment caused to any individuals or supporters.

Dover Athletic today announced that winger Chris Allen had left the club by mutual consent.

Allen's agreement with the Club was cancelled in time for him to join Ryman League outfit Aldershot Town, before today's deadline.

IT HAS been reported that Gordon Cowan and the Supporters Trust met with Dover Athletic officials this week with a plan to takeover the club. Justin Allen caught up with Cowan and asked him for the full lowdown on his plans.

GORDON COWAN is bidding to bring stability back to Dover Athletic, give supporters the chance to run the club - and bring back Neville Southall. The ex-Whites chairman, and a former member of the so-called Famous Five running the club, and three local businessmen, including Mick Kemp, are linking up with the Supporters' Trust in a takeover bid. A meeting has already been held with major shareholders John and Alan Husk and discussions also took place yesterday with present club board members Jim Pellatt (chairman) and Roger Knight. Jim Gleeson was abroad and unable to attend. Cowan and his group have drawn up a one-year business plan. This has been shown to the Husk brothers and is now being looked at by the present board. But Cowan's plan is for the supporters to have a major say in the future of the club and give the Trust a seat on the board. He said:

"The Supporters Trust has been offered a non-executive position on the board, but that is not worth much in my opinion. The aim of the Trust is to have a say in how the club is run and to own shares, so we have a plan to get hold of these shares for the supporters.

"Myself, Mick and two other people, who I don't want to mention at this moment in time, are willing to become the club's guarantors. This is one of the conditions the Husks have laid down before they're willing to relinquish their shares. The Trust don't have the clout to do that outright without help and we're willing to provide it.

"The Trust has established itself as a real force at the club. It now has a good financial status and, importantly, is reliable. Whoever is chairman or manager of the club, the Trust will always be here because it consists of loyal ardent fans."

Cowan added: "It's well known by everyone that Jim Gleeson has bankrolled the club. But what happens if he decides to stop that - which he has done a couple of times already this season? The structure of the club is fragile and we can't just rely on one individual."

Whites have had a staggering three chairmen this season. First Gleeson, followed by Cowan and now Pellatt. This has been matched by three managers in Gary Bellamy, Neville Southall and Clive Walker. Walker was last week handed a contract until the end of next season after taking over from the sacked Southall. But Cowan said if his group and the Trust takeover the club, he has not ruled out bringing the ex-Wales and Everton legend back to Crabble. He said:

"I've an arrangement with Nev that he might still have a future at the club. Clive Walker is definitely in our plans too. I think Clive's doing a great job, he's a first-class coach and well-respected in the game, but these recent results are not just down to him.

"Neville Southall brought some quality players to Crabble, particularly Leon Kelly, Kristian James and Kevin Seabury. The team were settling down towards the end of Nev's time as manager. His last two matches were a win against Farnborough and a very unfortunate 4-2 away defeat at Boston, who are top of the league. The team were already beginning to turn the corner and it's great to see them pick up seven points from the last nine available. Let's hope they can continue this form to keep the club in the Conference.

"However, Nev not only can bring more quality players to the club, he can also attract and raise funds. He did an excellent job raising funds in his brief time at the club, as well as signing some decent players. But the bottom line is we want to bring stability back to the club. Dover Athletic can't just continue relying on one man bankrolling it. We've already seen what can happen when this person decides to change his mind. How many more times can we have people changing their minds from one week to the next?"

His stablemate Kemp runs a plumbing shop in the town and is the brother of ex-Whites star Peter Kemp. The group are hoping to reach an agreement with the club by the end of the season. It was the Husks' recommendation, added Cowan, that they discuss their plans with the club's board and come to an amicable agreement.

Although I don't normally look forward to the end of the football season, I suspect I'm not alone in thinking that the end of this one can't come quickly enough. For one thing, the summer months will give me more time to devote to The Striker. Although I say so myself, things have been going wonderfully well. The Black Prince and I have set ourselves a target that we'll get the Striker back to its zenith of 6,000 members a week and there's absolutely no reason why this target cannot be achieved.

What we've been doing is to work in conjunction with the club, most notably Bill Williams and Judy his assistant, exchanging ideas and putting them into practice. In short, we're adding a little local knowledge and using some shoe leather to help the club bring things up to speed. Here are just a few of the things that have happened during the last fortnight.

1. Our intrepid canvassers, Darren & Ray, went out for the first time during one evening this week and signed up 48 new members. And whilst this may not sound like a remarkable achievement, these new customers come solely from just two streets - Heathfield and Mayfield Avenue. These contributors alone will add £2,496 a year to the club's coffers which indicates the potentially huge market that's out there just waiting to be tapped.

2. As we indicated in our last update, two exiled Whites have decided to take matters into their own hands. Nick Carr (who I grew up with in Pioneer Road) has started a round at Basilica Computing in Stevenage, whilst Phil Dodd (whose parents still live at Aycliffe) has started another from his pub, The Unicorn in Plymouth. Both made their first payments this week and have collectively added 36 members. In purely mercenary terms, that's £1,872 a year.

3. Of course, established agents will sometimes have to pack in their rounds for one reason or another. Moving away, change of job, etc. Slowly but surely, we're putting a database together that will enable us to identify other agents who will take on additional customers. By the same token, The Supporters Trust can also put us in touch with its members who might be prepared to take on an established round. Agents resigning has proved a real problem in the past, but this is something we're rapidly beginning to address to ensure that good money doesn't just slip through the club's fingers.

4. As an incentive to both existing and potential agents, the club have agreed to increase commissions. Since Striker's inception, agents have been paid a flat fee of 10p for every £1 collected. Although this remains unchanged for the first 50 customers, it increases to 15p beyond 51 members and up to 20p beyond 100 members.

Example:

An agent with 120 members would previously have been paid a commission of £12.00. Under the new system, that same agent will receive a commission of £16.50.

As an added incentive to agents, the club have agreed to pay £1.00 for every new customer they sign up!!!

5. The mutual benefits of local publicans acting as agents for The Striker seem fairly obvious. Viz. "Here's my £1 for the Striker, Fred, and I may as well have 14 pints while I'm here." Purely as one example, I know that Alan and Sandy at The Bull have been successfully operating as agents for some time . We're hoping other pubs might follow their example. Seamus at The Three Cups, for example, has a number of Whites fans amongst his customers and has accordingly registered as a new agent.

6. Although I should stress that this is an idea that is still being developed, Bill Williams has indicated that local football clubs, who provide Striker members in sufficient numbers, could receive a free new kit at the end of the season. This is just one particularly exciting idea that we'll hope to expand upon over the next few weeks.

My role in all this? Simply giving up an hour or two at the end of the week and helping with the administration whilst the kids are watching brain-dead T.V. It really isn't a hardship.

In conclusion, if you've a quid to spare, an hour to spare or a good idea, I'd love to hear from you.

Mark.

markwinter@freeuk.com (Home telephone number available on request).

CLIVE WALKER has revealed spirits are high in the Dover dressing room - despite relegation now looking certain. But the Whites boss admitted this is the worst-ever season he has experienced in his long football career.

Walker, "happy" with his team's performance in the goalless draw with Margate on Monday night, said: "Morale is good, considering all the problems we've had this season, and our aim is now to get as many points on the board as possible. There's no point giving up when there's still 18 points up for grabs, that would be stupid.

"It has, without doubt, been the worst season I can ever remember in my time in football. I've never known anything like it. Three managers and three chairmen in one season, that takes some beating.

"The situation I've taken over is not ideal at all. That's probably stating the obvious. But we have to give it our all and boost our points tally as best we can. To be honest, we can't afford to lose another match."

The 0-0 stalemate on Monday night against Chris Kinnear's men was probably a fair outcome, although Dover just about shaded it. The team now in place at Crabble is one that, had it started the season, would have been a good bet for a strong mid-table place, but Walker admits too much damage was done early on in the season. He said:

"We've basically given the other clubs in the Conference a ten-match headstart and you simply can't afford to do that in this league. The constant changes to management and directors have obviously not helped the situation, but that's all in the past now and we can only look forward.

"My aim is to stabilise the team. Most of our players are contracted for next season, although I've got to sit down with a few who will be free to go under a Bosman in the summer. Ideally I'd like to keep most of the team together, because, with confidence, we can do well.

"Obviously we can't decide on next season until we know what division we will be playing in. If we get relegated, the aim has to be to bounce straight back up and this team is capable, with some confidence, of doing that."

Walker, now aged 56, has committed himself to the cause, come what may, next season. He has thoroughly enjoyed his five years at the club and wants to stick around for some time yet. He said:

"I was managing in the Football League 20 years ago at Northampton and enjoyed it. I've been around the block a few times and am happy to manage Dover."

Whites have a break from action on Saturday and then travel to Stevenage on Easter Bank Holiday Monday. "Another easy game," quipped the Whites boss.

Dover Midfielder Jimmy Strouts has confirmed that Brighton & Hove Albion will provide the opposition for his much deserved testimonial on Monday 22nd April. Former Whites boss Peter Taylor has stated that he will send down his strongest possible line-up, which is likely to include £5 million rated Bobby Zamora, to Crabble to acknowledge fans favourite Strouts who has played 245 games and scored 40 goals in his two spells with the club.

As well as the match there is a dinner on Saturday 20th April. The cost is £30 which includes a 5 course meal, a magician coming round the tables, auction of Premiership shirts, comedian Dave Lee and music.

Jimmy will be donating 5% of the proceeds from his testimonial to the Dover Athletic Supporters Trust.

More details are available at Jimmy's testimonial page at www.4goalhero.co.uk.

DOVER ATHLETIC board member Roger Knight is happy to answer fans' questions via this website.

Knight, who sits on the three-man board with Jim Gleeson and chairman Jim Pellatt , is eager to build good relations with fans.

Simply e-mail all your questions to Justin Allen at justin.allen@dailystar.co.uk by the Monday lunchtime and Roger's answers will appear as soon as possible on this website.

If this Q&A column is successful, Jim Gleeson and Jim Pellatt may be happy to answer questions on this site too.

Please ensure you include your full name, age and address with your question.

STRIKER now has members in Plymouth, Stevenage and Vancouver!

Entering the weekly prize draw is one of the best ways to support the club as well as give yourself a good chance of winning some cash.

At just £1 a ticket, the chances of winning the successful Dover Athletic Striker draw are far greater than winning the National Lottery or its scratchcard.

At the moment, the club urgently need agents in the following areas: Elvington, Eythorne, Maxton, Alkham Valley, St. Margarets, Hawkinge. But the club are happy to recruit in other areas too, so anyone interested in either becoming an agent or having a weekly flutter should contact the club on 01304-822373 or e-mail markwinter@freeuk.com leaving a contact number.

Help save DAFC - support the Striker.

THIS WEEK'S LUCKY WINNERS

STRIKER (Week 34): £1000 A. Spratt, Dover. £500 R. Wilkinson, Dover. £50 A. Dyer, Dover. J. Cattermole, Dover. £25 M. Scrivens, Dover. V. Habbershaw, Dover. Heasman, Folkestone; R. Constable, New Romney; £20 A Meadows, Dover; D Frances, Belvedere; S. Creasey, Deal; A. Huntley, Dover; L Phillips, Dover; L. Whittiker, Dover; Mrs. Poole, Whitfield; Mrs. Hazelden, Dover. £10 D. Sayer c/o DAFC; S. Busby, Dover; S. Barrington, Dover; D. Richards, Eastry; J. Young, Capel; A. Drew, Deal; Mrs. Davies, Dover; D. Humphries, Deal; B. Stevenson, Dover; M. Mortley, River; B. Daily, Dover.

DOVER ATHLETIC have parted company with manager Neville Southall. Assistant manager Clive Walker, who was caretaker manager before Southall's appointment in December, has been named as new first team manager.

In a statement, the club announced: "It is with regret that the board has to announce the departure of Neville Southall as team manager. This decision was not taken lightly but it was felt that in the best interests of the club, given the continued poor results and position the club currently finds itself in, there was no other option."

But director Roger Knight added: "There were other reasons for the dismissal, but I don't think it's right to go into all of them. We did feel that the club had not moved on since his appointment as manager."

The club, who decided on the sacking after forming a new board consisting of Jim Pellatt (chairman), Jim Gleeson and Roger Knight, this afternoon appointed assistant-boss Clive Walker as the new first team manager. A further statement read: "Dover Athletic are pleased to announce the appointment of Clive Walker as manager with immediate effect. Clive is a fully qualified UEFA A license coach and runs a summer coaching academy in America. He has previously been manager at Northampton Town and Kettering."

Walker, who has been with the Whites for five years serving Bill Williams, Gary Bellamy and Southall as their No.2, was in charge as caretaker boss in November and December last year. His first brief is to restore battered morale, caused by Big Nev's departure, and keep the club in the Conference. The behind-the-scenes activities of last night amount to a "cabinet reshuffle". Williams and ex-chairman Gordon Cowan agreed to relinquish their positions as directors, but have been invited to be part of a newly formed non-executive support board. This board will also include all those who have supported the club in the recent financial rescue package and the Supporters Trust have been invited to join. In the same statement announcing Southall's dismissal, the club said: "A new board of directors has been formed. This action has been taken with the full support and backing of the major shareholders. After long and hard negotiations with various interested parties had failed, it was decided that immediate action had to be taken to secure the future of DAFC. We are pleased to announce that the new board are: Chairman: Jim Pellatt; Directors: Jim Gleeson, Roger Knight. The board is currently organising and restructuring the club; this will enable the fulfilment of the remaining season's fixtures, and ensure football at Crabble next season."

A special meeting of the club's directors, shareholders and other leading Dover Athletic lights will be held at the club tomorrow night to discuss the future - but Knight, who is taking on responsibility for dealing with the media, said the club has been saved until the end of the season at least. But he added: "It's only thanks to the money we got in the aftermath of announcing how close we were from going into administration. We really were in deep trouble, but now we will be able to survive until the end of the season. But it's only a drop in the ocean of how much debt we're still in. There's a lot of hard work still needed to safeguard Dover Athletic's future."

NEVILLE SOUTHALL departed as Dover Athletic manager with a bitter taste in his mouth last night. The Everton goalkeeping legend, who only took charge of Whites in December, insisted he was forced out by general manager Bill Williams. That claim was staunchly denied by Williams, but Southall, who lost eight of his ten competetive matches in charge, had no doubts why he was sacked. He said:

"It's not football reasons. Everyone knows the team was improving and that we still had a chance of staying up. But I said a few things in the press, which were basically home truths and some people didn't like it.

"I make no apologies for being honest. That's the way I've always been. I wanted to force the issue at the club, otherwise we would've just remained standing still. I am very disappointed by the whole thing.

"Bill Williams has stood in my way since day one of my appointment. He told me to cut my wage bill by £1,000 a week, days after saying I could bring players in, and also tried to tell me which people to play in the team. He has always told people he doesn't want to be the manager of the side, but secretly I think he does.

"I only found out about my sacking when I got a phone call from a Press Association reporter in London. He told me I'd been sacked, but I knew nothing about it. I rang the club and Jim Gleeson asked me to leave by resigning, but I declined because I had done nothing wrong. So he said I was sacked.

"I had brought in money for the club and believe we could've raised around £100,000 next season from some big friendlies and other commercial ventures I was planning, that's before even getting money from a new sponsor. Also I felt we were building a good spirit in the dressing room. I still want to be the Dover manager and if I had the chance I would come back. But all the time Bill's there, I've no chance and don't believe the club can move forward too.

"I blame Bill Williams. I was forced out, just like Gary Bellamy was. He blamed Bill when he was sacked."

Williams, speaking from his Maidstone home, commented:

"I'm receiving unfair flak at the moment and am sorry Neville feels the way he does. I don't want to make too much of a comment now. I'll wait until all the dust has settled before saying anything further, because what happened yesterday was not nice for anyone."

Club skipper Keith Scott said he was shocked by the decision and told the Dover Mercury:

"All the players liked and respected Neville. He had brought a certain level of professionalism to the club."

Supporters Club chairman Simon Harris, a leading force behind the Supporters Trust, told BBC Radio Kent:

"Realistically I don't think this is a good time in the season to sack a manager. Whether Neville was doing a good job or not it smacks of defeatism."

Harris did not feel that the recent efforts of the team were represented in the decision: "You have to say that watching the team in the last few games they have been playing very well. There has been a distinct commitment shown by the side."

THINK of Jimmy Strouts' last minute winner against Farnborough. Think of that epic penalty shootout win in front of 4,500 Barrow fans. Think of Barry Little, Patch Macdonald and Jason Bartlett and all those others who suffered serious physical harm playing for us.

Think of a thousand Dover fans seeing us fight back from 2-0 down at Dartford in the Southern league. Think of the sheer joy of stuffing Rushden 4-1. Think of that unforgettable 3-2 win over Boston in September.

Think of over 4,000 (officially) stuffed into Crabble in '92 against Bromsgrove. Think of beating Gillingham in the Kent Senior Cup. Think of the heroic fightback and the tears we shed after the Trophy semi-final against Cheltenham. Think of the robbery in the first leg and how we should have got to Wembley.

Think of how we bounced back from being banned from the Conference in 1990. Think of the fine ground we have that's cost over half-a-million pounds to build. Think of winning trophy after trophy in the Beazer. Think of 1,200 Dover fans taking over the Rainham End when we beat Gravesend at Gillingham in '91. Think of all those Dover England semi-pro players. Think of Leworthy, Jackson, Wormull, Reina, the Dixons.

Think of our midfield in late 99, think of all those SUCCESSFUL fights against relegation. Think of beating Kidderminster in 94 to stay up, think of our lucky let off under Taylor.

Think of the money that's been spent and the blood, sweat and tears spilt to keep this club where it is. Think of singing your hearts out at Gravesend. Think of the sheer romantic madness of a midweek trip to Merthyr in a monsoon.

Think of Jimmy Strouts' commitment. Think of Bill Williams' "Dogs of War" rhetoric and fighting spirit. Think of our back five under Kinnear.

Think of what we could still achieve in the future. Think of that golden dream of the FA Cup first round - one day.

Think of byes to the FA Cup 4th Qualifying round, and the third round of the Trophy. Think of our national profile. Think of what we stand to lose if this club went under or was relegated.

We must save the club, and we will.

Firstly, thanks to everyone who responded to our last posting. I'll be in touch with everyone who sent e-mails during the course of the next few days. Whites fans will, I'm sure, be thrilled to hear that we now have an agent keen to operate in Stevenage.

The main news this week is that Bill Williams has agreed to increase commission as an incentive to Striker agents. At the moment, agents are paid a flat fee of 10p for every £1 they collect. In future, commissions will be paid on the following scale:

For example an agent with 110 customers currently receives £11.00 commission. Under the new scheme that same agent would receive £14.50.

Canvassing

The second piece of information this week is that we will shortly be canvassing in the Barton Road area of the Town. Conversations lead us to believe that there are a number of potential new customers in this area, so we'll be burning a little shoe leather to find out. Striker canvassers will, of course, carry a valid ID card to show they are working on behalf of the club.

Mark Winter
E-Mail: markwinter@freeuk.com

BILL WILLIAMS has revealed that things are looking a lot better than they were this time last week.

The Dover general manager revealed the full seriousness of the club's financial problems to fans, who were left in stunned silence, at last Thursday's Supporters Club Trust launch at the Town Hall.

But, speaking in this Thursday's Dover Mercury, Williams said: "Things are looking slightly better now than they were this time last week, and we are working hard to put a rescue package together."

He had earlier revealed how the club must find £15,000 in days or face a winding up order. "Dover Athletic are in serious trouble and need £15,000 in 10-12 days, and a £30,000 commitment from now until the end of the season," he told supporters. "So if there are people out there who can provide the cash, we need them to come forward now, otherwise the club will fold."

Williams added: "We've been living beyond our means for several years now. We're currently losing £2,000 a week and have debts of £120,000. The Inland Revenue and the VAT people are among our creditors and we need £15,000 as quickly as possible, otherwise the club could be wound up."

Sadly, I was not at Crabble on Saturday to witness what sounded like a thrilling last minute victory, and what conceivably could be one of Dover's last. In the interests of preserving domestic harmony I decided to have a Saturday off this week, forsaking the 600 mile round trip, knowing that the weeks ahead would be occupied with supporting the lads in their Herculean relegation fight.

Given the present scare stories about the club's financial state and the possibilities of them closing in 2 weeks I am beginning to think that my absence was ill timed.

It is easy to treat such panic stories with cynicism and disbelief. After all wasn't the club in such dire financial straits last November and is still here now? Aren't they calling our bluff again?

Sadly, I think not. I really do believe that the Margate new year's day postponement, the failure to find an agreeable compromise amongst the shareholders, and sheer bad luck on the field, (leading to fewer points on the board and fewer punters through the turnstiles), really have combined to put the club in this position. The club really could fold for the lack of £15,000 now and £15,000 before the end of the season. Peanuts to the likes of Beckham and Keane, but a small fortune to a club in our position.

It's time for all fans to dig deep in this hour of need. I have just sent the club a donation representing the savings in travel costs to Saturday's game, plus others that I have missed this season, and have asked them to double my striker contribution. OK, so its not going to save them on its own and I have some spare income and can afford it. However, if you have any feeling at all for Dover Athletic you might consider the following. To paraphrase a famous saying 'Its not what your club can do for you it is what you can do for your club'!

1. If you're a season ticket holder - paying at the turnstile for the Woking and possibly the other home fixtures? If not then paying a double entrance admission or bringing a friend.


2. If you cannot make the match then send them the admission fee that you would have spent had you been able to go. If you cannot make an away match send them the saving in petrol!


3. If you are lucky enough to win Striker - donate half the winnings back to the club.


4. If you contribute to Striker - double your subscription.


5. If you're an exiled fan, like me, send the club the notional admission fee for the remaining home fixtures.


6. Simply send the club a small donation - as much as you can afford.

Multiply these measures by 1,000 then who knows we might just raise enough to fend off the grim reaper (aka the liquidator).

I would be gutted if the club went out of business, particularly for such a relatively small sum. I know there would be a lot more feeling worse than me. Act now before its too late!

WHITES fan and Dover Express writer MARK WINTER has been looking at the club's Striker scheme and is hoping other fans can help him bring it back to pre-Lottery levels.

As I write these notes the future of our football club looks very much in the balance. That said, you'll excuse me for remaining positive and exploring avenues as to how we might get back on track.

As I've mentioned on the forum in recent weeks, I attended a meeting with Bill Williams recently aimed at discussing how the club's Striker Lottery might be updated and improved.

The bad news is that it's in need of a drastic overhaul. The good news is that I'm convinced that, with a little effort, the Striker can be brought back to its zenith of 6,000 members. I say this in the knowledge that you should never underestimate anyone's desire to give me £1 in order that I might go away.

On a more serious note, a number of areas have been highlighted as to how matters can be overhauled. Here a just a few of them.

Over the course of the past few days, I've put together a team of four that will concentrate our efforts around the Barton Road area of the town. I'll be doing administration, highlighting the benefits of Striker membership and how to join. When leaflets are prepared (which won't cost the club a copper coin), we'll be doing a mail drop to all the houses in the selected area. Once this has been completed, we'll send out a couple of canvassers to sign up interested parties. The final stage, of course, will be for an agent to add the new customers to his existing round.

I suspect all this sounds a little simplistic. But given that one new agent in this area has already signed up 112 new members, and he claims not to have tried that hard, is irrefutable proof that it can be done.

When the Barton Road area has been canvassed, we'll simply move on and target another area.

The major problem is one of numbers. When I say that when one agent resigned recently and hasn't been replaced, it's an edifying thought to think that £65 per week (£3,380 per annum) has slipped through the club's fingers for want of somebody to collect it.

So this is where you come in.

New agents are desperately required to make the whole thing work. Effectively, we're talking about spending three hours per week of your time on something that's been the lifeblood of the club since it's inception. Realistically, it's something you could do whilst walking the dog. So if you even think you might be able to help, please call Bill at the club or me at home and we'll explain things further.

Other factors likely to happen are:

1. Increased payments to Striker Agents. As things stand, they keep all of their first weekly collection and are paid 10p in the £1 from this point. Though I should stress that this is still under consideration, it is thought that 15p for every member over 50 and 20p for every member over 100 is not unreasonable.


2. A campaign to attract more local businesses into the scheme. Recent experience has shown that there are a number of high street shops keen to contribute. This is something we feel that the club hasn't really tapped into. Viz. That football fans are the most loyal people in the world and that brand loyalty is a potent weapon in local commerce. In simple terms, I'm hacked off with handing all my dosh to multi-nationals that don't give a damn about our community. In future, I'll be supporting those that support me and mine!


3. Identifying those customers that would sooner pay their £1 per week by direct debit or standing order. It goes without saying that this method is easier and could reduce administration man hours considerably.


4. Using the website and e-mail to much better effect to bring things up to speed and to encourage the wealth of talent that the club has at its disposal. It doesn't take a genius to work that the hundreds of you can be reached - worldwide - with just one e-mail.

Expect another posting on this site shortly as to how things are progressing. Please get in touch if you think you can help.

Mark Winter
E-Mail: markwinter@freeuk.com (Home number not published for fear of idiots. Genuine Whites fans can find it easily enough).

MAJOR Whites shareholder Jim Parmenter has promised he has no intention of standing in the way of the club's progress. Parmenter, who has the fourth biggest stake in the club with 15,200 shares, has received offers for his shares - but will not sell them or give them up to just anyone.

The ex-Dover director, currently vice-chairman at Conference rivals Margate, said he would like to hand over all his shares to the Dover Athletic Supporters Trust - but legally that's not an option.

He said: "I invested between £80-£100,000 in the club and was willing to help it out of trouble when I was at the club. That never happened and Jim Gleeson has tried to do the same since, sadly to no effect. I want the club to thrive. I've no interest in seeing Dover go under. If I wanted that, I'd have just simply sold my shares off. There was an offer from a couple of syndicates, but I didn't know enough about the aim of the syndicate to just sell them. I will only give up my shares if it's in the best interests of Dover Athletic."

Parmenter has played a key part in Margate's surge up the pyramid to the Conference and with the Thanet club's biggest crowd of the season against Dover on Boxing Day it would not even make business sense for the ex-Whites director to sell the club down the river. He said: "I would never do that. The club has been in a mess for some time and I sincerely hope they can get out of it."

Parmenter has the biggest stake in the club after John Husk, Alan Husk and Gordon Goodacre. Dover chairman Gordon Cowan explained that one difficulty the club face at the moment is reaching agreement not just with the Husks and Goodacre - the three biggest shareholders - but the other shareholders too.

Cowan said: "There are so many people involved and reaching agreement with all the shareholders is what's taking a little bit of time. Those negotiations are delicate and it's not as easy as some people may think. The whole structure of the club needs to change before we can attract serious investment in the club. Two interested parties pulled out because of the situation with shareholders."

The official launch of the recently formed Dover Athletic Supporters Trust will take place at Dover Town Hall this Thursday evening. Players past and present will be in attendance and there will be a licensed bar and raffle sponsored by local businesses. The evening starts at 7:00pm.

DOVER ATHLETIC are on a Conference life-support machine after two devastating defeats against relegation rivals - and chairman Gordon Cowan admits the team will slip into the league's graveyard if they lose their next two matches. It's a grim, but realistic, outlook for Whites and unless they can shock everyone by beating top-of-the-table Dagenham away and Farnborough at home the following week Conference survival will be, all but mathematically, impossible. Cowan conceded: "It's not looking good now, but we must soldier on. Football can be strange sometimes and beating Dagenham this Saturday would throw a spanner in the works." Indeed, it would. But even a win at the Victoria Ground will not make the league table pleasant reading for Whites fans. Relegation would require the club to reassess its plans. And, although Cowan doesn't want to dwell on relegation yet, he admitted: "The number of people who come through the turnstiles is going to be the biggest factor. If supporters still turn up at Crabble in plus 1,000 numbers if we go down, we'll not be too badly off, although we'll lose a lot of benefits from dropping out of the Conference.

"Clubs like Cheltenham and Dagenham have got themselves relegated from the Conference and bounced back stronger. If we were to go down, that's what we'd need to aim for. But we need the support of fans more than ever." Boss Neville Southall has already pledged his future to the club, come what may, next season - if he is still wanted. But Cowan admitted he won't be able to decide anyone's future at the club, including players, until the season has finished. He said: "We'll need to work out our budget and other things like that, so it's impossible to know what will happen. I personally hope we do have Nev as manager next season. Although results have not been good, he's done a good job. It's not been an easy one for him."

Cowan revealed the club are no nearer this week to making an announcement about behind-the-scenes activities. He said: "Things are still very delicate. The fans will be the first to know once something happens."

VALENTINE'S DAY fever struck the nation on Thursday - and Whites boss Neville Southall has challenged his men to show how much they love their supporters. "It would be a perfect Valentine gift if we can beat Scarborough on Saturday and then start on a winning run," he said. "We logically need to win every other game, but to be honest the lads have got to try and win every match.

"We know it's tough but I believe that our approach has been positive. Never have we played for draws or stuck just one man up front. We need to get at opponents, give it a go and win.

"Scarborough is a crucial match, but they all are now. Last weekend at Northwich I was pleased that we created some good chances, although we shot ourselves in the foot by giving away two silly goals. If we can stop the errors, we'll win matches.

"When I first came here, I was convinced we could stay up. I'm still convinced. But we've got to be positive, because if you go out in a negative manner you're asking for trouble."

Neil Le Bihan, who played in the 6-1 friendly win at Herne Bay, is likely to return to the side, while Lee Shearer (ankle) and Kristan James (hamstring) will have late fitness tests before Southall names his team.

Big Nev wants to bring in another two players but any impending transfers are on hold, while the club hope to make an announcement of some kind next week.

Chairman Gordon Cowan confirmed that the club are concluding talks with major shareholders John Husk, Alan Husk and Gordon Goodacre. But the talks are sensitive, so for those reasons Cowan can't go into any more detail yet.

Cowan will be in a position to answer fans' questions on this website after next week. Southall has already done likewise in a special Q&A on this site.

The Dover chairman said: "I don't like to duck out of any questions, but just want to hang fire on a couple of things until the end of next week. One way or another, I will be a bit more forthcoming with information next week."

One of the problems for Southall is his inability to offer contracts beyond this season, because of the uncertainty surrounding the club's future.

Big Nev explained: "I can't give out longer deals because we don't know whether the club's going to get taken over or what. So we can only look at this season and then in the summer all sit down together and see where we're going. I want to build for next season of course, but there's usually around 700 professional footballers out of work in the summer so I'm not overly worried about being left short."

Picture courtesy of the Kent Messenger Group

IN A Dover Athletic Official Website exclusive, manager Neville Southall answers questions posted by on-line supporters.

Chris Hart, 12, from Wingham (near Canterbury): Are you going to put your gloves back on at Dover?

Martin Leigh, a long-standing fan from Dover: Will fans be better notified of news from the club? And will they also be informed of transfer fees paid for departing and incoming players?

John Moorhouse, of Sandwich: It seems as if you want to try and bring in as many people as possible who have experienced relegation dogfights. But does the term "experienced" suggest many of our new players will be 30 plus or will you also be looking for youngsters who can cope with the situation Dover are currently in?

Garth Maguire, a fan from St Margaret's: What do you consider a realistic position for Dover Athletic to achieve in the next three years? Can they make the Football League? Do you see yourself here in three years?

Big Nev: I think that Dover are capable of being in the Football League. We've got to avoid relegation this season to realistically challenge within three seasons, but it's possible. We've got to become more professional on and off the pitch. And we've got to go full-time to have a better chance of competing against the top sides. Talent-wise this side is as good as any in this league, so we've just got to take things forward and hopefully we can realise the potential here. I'd like to be here in three years. I've always said that I'd like to get into the Football League and take Dover with me.

James Pearce, 17, is a big Dover Athletic fan who runs his own website: Could it possible to arrange a game between the first team and supporters, substituting fans every ten minutes?

Shaun Thompson says "Hola" from Murcia in the south of Spain and asks: Why on earth did you choose Dover Athletic to manage when, a few months down the line , you might well be in the frame for Walter Smith's job at Everton?

Shaun again: While I haven't got a Spanish tumble dryer kicking about, there's a good-sized 11-a-side pitch plus 5-a side court behind my house if he fancies some place warm for mid-season training.

Ritchie Hulks, 19, Dover: How do you feel about the supporters trust? Can you see it having a place on the current DAFC board?

Alan Forsyth, Dublin: I am impressed with your willingness in these difficult times to move to the area. How are you settling in, both on and off the field?

Jerry Bishop, 45, of Herne Bay: You said players not giving 100 per cent don't have a future at Crabble. Does this mean we will see Chris Allen off-loaded in the near future?

Ben Hughes, 22, lives in Deal: It's clear when young reserve players John Ovard, Craig Cloke and particularly Tom Hickman come on they were prepared to fight for every ball and chase every lost cause more than certain senior players who started the game. Will you be looking to use these youngsters more, as they obviously have more passion for the club than some people who seem to turn up just to pick up a wage?

Ian Smith, a Dover fanatic now living in Harrogate: We will have to win 50 per cent of our games to get to 47 points, safety probably, does he believe that we can do it? And how can we do it?

Ian also has a further question: If, God forbid, we do go down does he see enough potential at the club to keep him there next season? After all Cheltenham and the Daggers were both relegated only to return much stronger outfits and go on to greater things.

This evening's Nationwide Conference match between Dover Athletic and Margate at Crabble was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. The fixture had originally been scheduled to take place on New Year's Day but on that occasion it was cancelled because the pitch was frozen. No date has yet been set for the replay.

Dover will have to make the long trek to Forest Green Rovers on a weekday evening. The Nationwide Conference fixture was postponed three weeks ago because of bad weather. It will now take place on Wednesday 20 February.

NEVILLE SOUTHALL has vowed to stay at Dover Athletic next season - whether they're in the Conference or not. The Whites boss, who has taken on one of the hardest jobs in football, would be happy to be at Crabble next season if the club still want him. And the league Dover are competing in will not be a factor for the Everton goalkeeping legend. He said: "I want to be at Dover for at least the next few years. I love everything about this job and being at the club, apart from the results. I don't know what it is I love about Dover, I can't quite put my finger on it, but this club is a very good one."

"The club needs waking up in some areas and it's my job to help that happen. There's so much potential and I firmly believe that if we stay up then already there's a great chance of challenging for a top position next season."

When asked if the club went down would he still see his future at Dover, Southall said: "Yes. I want to stay here. I don't want to be relegated, of course, but if that happened then I've got to bring them straight back up. But we're still a Conference club at the moment and survival is not beyond us yet. We lost against Northwich, but that doesn't suddenly mean we're out of it. There's still 14 games left and everyone has got to get behind us in our bid to complete a great escape. Let's not resign ourselves to relegation when there's still a chance of staying up. Ideally, I'd like to have more time, but we've just got to get on with it. We shouldn't panic yet."

The news of Neville's interest in staying at Crabble, whatever happens at the end of this nightmare season, will be a big boost to everyone at the club. Chairman Gordan Cowan has already pledged that he and everyone running Dover Athletic will not jump ship if the unthinkable happens. And the fantastic support already shown to the club by its loyal fans must continue too.

NEVILLE SOUTHALL has challenged his Dover side to bury the disappointment of another defeat at Northwich by beating bitter Kent rivals Margate at Crabble on Monday night. The Whites boss admitted the players were gutted after their 2-1 reverse at the Drill Field on Saturday. But Big Nev has promised he is not giving up the fight and believes the team is not far away from being one that could comfortably compete in the top half of the Conference. He said: "The lads were low after the game, which was understandable. We lost a match that should have at least got us a point. We gave away two terrible goals, although the boys told me afterwards that the first one was offside."

"As soon as they got their opening goal, our heads dropped, because of the pressure situation we're in, and Northwich could have scored a couple more. But then we levelled the score thanks to Leon Kelly and there only looked like one winner at that point - us. We carved out chances, but then gave away a shocking second goal that buried us. The lads had three chances to clear the danger before they eventually scored."

But looking ahead to the Margate game, Southall said: "I've told the players that if they don't want to feel like they did at 4.45pm on Saturday, then all they've got to do is put it right by getting three points against Margate."

"Margate are a half decent team. They wouldn't be in the top half of the table otherwise, but our side has a lot of talent and can beat anyone on their day. So I'm not worried about playing Margate. I'll take anyone, but we need to get something from the next two games. Basically we need to average one and a half points every match, so that's a win every two games. We've lost against Northwich, now we've got to beat Margate to keep on track."

Lee Shearer (ankle) is a doubt and Neil Le Bihan, who played for the reserves on Saturday, might have a chance of forcing his way into the squad. Southall confirmed Whites will play Herne Bay away on Tuesday night (7:45pm KO) with at least three new trialists on display.

IAN SMITH joins our DAFC website writing team and looks ahead at the upcoming relegation battle and poses the question: "Haven't we been here before?"

Neville Southall reckons that Dover have to win at least seven out of their remaining 15 games if they are going to retain their Conference place next season. Over half their games - a formidable target for a side that has only won eight league matches this term, and averaged just under a point a game. Even if one were charitable and excluded the first five games (defeats), when Gary Bellamy was experimenting with total football, Whites have still only managed to win a third of their games. This ratio must be improved if they are to stand any chance of avoiding the drop.

I would not argue with Nev's assessment and believe that this season there will be an unlucky side who do go down having knocked up 47 or 48 points. While in recent years this has guaranteed safety the ominous form of Athletic's relegation rivals indicates that they are now capable of reaching that total. Scarborough, Chester, and an ex-White Sam Ayorinde inspired Stalybridge have also started to show awesome form recently, that one has wondered whether we will be cast adrift at the bottom. In order to escape relegation Dover must ensure that they get enough points soon in order to pull some of those mid-table sides, like Forest Green, Farnborough and Stevenage (yes mid table, frightening!), in to the mire.

As a natural born pessimist I must say that I feel like pulling the covers over my head now and asking you to wake me up next May. At least that way I could avoid the nightmare and arise to plan for next season's trips to obscure places like King's Lynn, Hinckley and Ilkeston. Similarly as a non gambler surely I could not lose but to bet my house on Whites going down - a better bet than Man U winning the title?!

But wait ye of little faith. Have you forgotten the glorious spring of 1997, all of five years ago? Have you suffered amnesia blotting out the Great Escape?!

Looking back at my old programmes on another blank league Saturday, the 1996/7 match guide casts some encouraging parallels with 2002. Bottom of the league at the beginning of February on 25 points from 26 games. An embarrassing Trophy exit at the hands of neo-cockney opposition. That season it was Dagenham on their way to a Wembley final where ex-Dover hero Tony Rogers would get his marching orders. No league win that year, with a first Saturday of the year beating at Hayes and a debut 1-0 home league defeat for the new manager. Sound familiar? Although the 1-0 home defeat was from a team who play in red, it was Kettering and not Doncaster. Oh and by the way we had just lost our best ever player in to the bargain, agreeing to sell a travel weary David Leworthy to Rushden (I never did work out whether Rushden was further from his Havant home than Dover!). Put simply we had no chance of avoiding the inevitable drop - or did we?

Now I don't pretend to be a Dover fan on the Harris-Collings scale and do not attend every match. From my Yorkshire home it is a tad expensive, means that I get considerable domestic ear ache, and question my own sanity when we're getting whooped every week. The point of saying that is that I missed the next three games, a regret that I shall probably take to my grave.

In real Roy of the Rovers style written off Whites won all of them. The first I remember reading about and no doubt when we do get in to the Football League there will be thousands of Dover fans boasting how they were in the 984 crowd. As I recall Dover were up against it against Sammy McIroy's Macclesfield Town, on their way to the Conference championship. Inspired by on-loan Steve Brown, from Lincoln City, (didn't a certain Phil Stant used to play for them?) Dover came back to win 2-1 - the upset of the season. In the next two games, also at home, Whites won comfortably against fellow strugglers Bromsgrove and Welling.

The first time that I saw Bill Williams' rejuvenated outfit was away at Southport on February 22 and I think that Whites started the game out of the bottom three. It wasn't pretty but was effective! I remember thinking that it was Whites who were the gritty Northern opposition as they closed down every Southport player and tackled ruthlessly.

Just as the home fans were bemoaning their luck in front of goal and the away team's animal tactics, Scott Lindsay broke up the right and delivered a hard low cross for Jimmy Strouts to bundle in to the net. Magic! Four wins on the bounce had actually put Whites clear of the danger zone. Prior to the start of that run on February 8 they had only managed five wins in 25 games.

It wasn't all plain sailing from then on however. Inconsistency set in and two home defeats (against Southport and Gateshead) and two home draws with Stevenage and Rushden (who themselves conducted a late relegation escape) meant that we could never take safety for granted until an away match at Altrincham on the last but two Saturdays of the season.

Just like this season Sam Ayorinde was playing for another North Western club in relegation trouble . By this time Altrincham were bottom and although Whites were 10 points ahead, in 17th, they were by non means safe, having played more games than the sides below. Defeat looked on the cards, and another couple of weeks of cardiac scares inevitable, as the Robins took the lead on 70 minutes.

Heads did not drop though and Dover won a free kick outside the box. John Budden crashed the ball home from 20/25 yards - a scorcher! Then having incurred the wrath of the home fans all afternoon a certain Darren Adams broke just inside their half, ran to the edge of the box before lobbing the keeper to score a very memorable winner. A 2-1 success and relegation fears banished. There can have been few more pleasurable moments watching Dover!

In just under three months Bill Williams and Clive Walker had transformed a team of losers and no hopers in to a combative outfit. By the end of the season they had got to 50 points by taking 25 points (seven wins and four draws) from their last 15 matches. Not quite championship form, but more than enough to avoid the drop.

Will history repeat itself this time? I really hope it does and in theory it can, but then my pessimistic nature gets the better of me. In that season we had nine of those last 15 at home as opposed to seven this time. We had also visited and had been beaten by all the top three clubs by the time Williams took the helm. This season we still have to play them all away, with our last game at Yeovil. Lets hope we don't need a result from that one!

One thing is for sure if Neville does avoid the drop then he should receive the 'freedom of Dover', something that Bill Williams should have got for the great escape of five years ago!!

Dover Athletic could be charged by the Kent County Football Association for sending the Reserve Team to play Ashford in the Kent Senior Cup whilst the first team played a friendly at Deal Town. KCFA vice-chairman Colin Boswell said on BBC Radio Kent at the weekend:

"Next time the cup committee of the KCFA meet they will obviously discuss it. Three years ago the KFCA called a meeting of all its senior clubs to discuss whether they wanted the Kent Senior cup to continue. All of those clubs said that they did. I believe that turning out a reserve side was a bit of an insult to the county football association and to the paying customers that went to Ashford on Tuesday night. But obviously Dover football club have their reasons and no doubt they may well be asked to give those reasons to the cup committee of the Kent County Football Association."

WHITES chairman Gordon Cowan has insisted Conference survival is "absolutely crucial". Cowan admits relegation would be a bitter pill to swallow and would cost the club "a lot of money". He said: "We've got to stay up, that's our first goal. If we drop out of the Conference, revenue and other benefits will fall. The Conference gives each of its clubs a sum of money and we'd lose out on the television revenue that's coming in from Sky Sports. Relegation would force us to reduce our budget considerably, so the task that lies ahead to stay up is extremely important."

Cowan's comments scotch rumours that the club have already accepted relegation. "Not at all" said the Dover chairman. "We're in a big fight, we're fighting people who love this club, and Conference football is what we want next season. Then we want to build from there."

And Cowan has an important message for supporters: "Thank you." He said: "I have to say a big thank you to them all. They've got behind us in our hour of need. We told them the town needed to show it wanted a Conference club and they've done just that. We still desperately need them to get up to Crabble for all our home games and support us. We need their support more than ever."

Cowan, who is running the club with fellow director Bill Williams and management committee members Jim Pellet, Jim Gleeson and Roger Knight, said he and his group are 100 per cent committed to the club's future. Will they still be there, even if the club did get relegated?: "Yes. Absolutely. We love this club, but we're not going down, are we?"

DOVER ATHLETIC will continue to be managed by the Famous Five. Club chairman Gordon Cowan confirmed there are currently no consortiums interested in a takeover after two earlier groups had pulled out but the club are in safe hands. Cowan and Bill Williams continue as the board of directors with Jim Pellet (financial advisor), Jim Gleeson and Roger Knight still sitting on the management committee. The Whites chairman said: "Some people are calling us the Famous Five, but we appear to be making a lot of progress off the pitch. Although funds remain tight, we're beginning to create a solid financial infrastructure for the club to move forward."

Negotiations are still being held with potential investors who are interested in joining the existing five running the club. Cowan said: "We started with three options. The first was a consortium led by a Scot. We got excited about that one, but they pulled out. In fact, it was a blessing in disguise because Neville Southall was part of that group and he still offered his services. The next consortium pulled out too, leaving us with option three to run the club ourselves and that's what we're doing."

Last week the club were speaking with potential investors - not consortiums as we reported - and these discussions are on-going. Director Williams explained: "Some confusion was created because everyone was led to believe we were talking to consortiums due to a small misunderstanding. We were in fact talking to people who may be interested in joining our existing group. The club are always looking for investment and that's what we're doing."

Although the club are being managed by Cowan and his group, Dover Athletic remain under the ownership of major shareholders John Husk, his brother Alan Husk and Gordon Goodacre. Williams said: "We've told the main shareholders that were willing to take the club's reins indefinitely and they're thinking about it."

Former Dover forward Sammy Ayorinde helped Stalybridge Celtic to an impressive 2-1 victory over leaders Boston United this afternoon whilst the Whites were inactive due to the postponement of their game at Forest Green. Stalybridge's result coupled with Scarborough's point at Margate means Dover are now bottom of the Conference. Meanwhile fourth bottom Leigh RMI won at Northwich and Hayes lost to Yeovil.

Dover will have to wait at least two weeks to move off the bottom as they have no games in the Conference until 9 February as next weekend is the FA Trophy Fourth Round.

Dover's trip to Forest Green in the Nationwide Conference this afternoon has been postponed because of the weather. The Reserve Team match against Ashford Town Reserves at Crabble this afternoon has also been postponed.

In the Conference four of the matches involving Athletic's relegation rivals are still scheduled to go ahead. All have tough matches. Bottom club Stalybridge, who have three games in the hand on the Whites, host table-toppers Boston United whilst second bottom Scarborough visit Dover's local rivals Margate. Woking are at home to third-placed Yeovil Town whilst Hayes are at home to second-placed Dagenham & Redbridge.

DOVER boss Neville Southall has made a treble swoop and has promised his rebuilding at Crabble is far from finished. The Everton legend completed the signing of Scott Ramsay from Brighton on a free-transfer last night and then today landed Shrewsbury defender Kevin Seabury on a non-contract basis and ex-Wales U-19s midfielder Kristan James on the same terms.

But Southall is still in the hunt for Millwall midfielder Rio Alderton, who will play in another hastily-arranged friendly on Tuesday night at Deal Town, and will take another look at winger Simon Glover. The Dover boss also intends to include more trialists as he looks to give Whites the best possible chance of beating the drop.

Southall said: "We need more new faces that's for sure. I am happy with the three I've brought in but to stay up we've got to win seven matches out of 15. So the challenge is big and we've got to have a good enough squad to rise to the task."

Ramsay was recommended to Southall by Phil Stant, who played with Ramsay last season at Brighton, and the Dover boss now believes he has three players capable of getting the goals. He said: "Scott's big and pacy. That's exactly what we need up there. We've now got more options up front."

Seabury signs for Dover after nine years at Shrewsbury and his capture should fill the void left by the departing Colin Vowden at the back. Meanwhile, James was in the Wales U-19s team under the management of Southall and has been snapped up from League of Wales side Neath. Southall said: "He's only 20 and a lad with potential. He's played some matches for the Swansea first team and I was impressed by him when he played for me with the Wales U-19s."

DOVER boss Neville Southall signed Brighton striker Scott Ramsay tonight (Thursday) and plans to secure two more players before the Forest Green Rovers match on Saturday.

Southall said: "The Scott Ramsay deal went through today. He will go straight into the squad at Forest Green and hopefully I'll have two more fresh faces there too."

Ramsay was on the fringes of the Albion side, but was never considered a serious contender as a first choice striker for ex-Dover manager Peter Taylor's side.

The 21-year-old Hastings-born six foot marksman made just one first-team sub appearance this term, but he did get a few games during their Division Three Championship-winning season last year under Micky Adams.

Millwall midfielder Rio Alderton and experienced defender Kevin Seabury were two of the five trialists who faced Charlton on Tuesday and both are players that fill positions that Southall is looking to strengthen.

Two of Dover's closest rivals at the bottom of the Conference were given boosts today. Scarborough, who had been deducted three points for fielding an ineligible player, had their penalty reduced to a single point after a successful appeal. Meanwhile Chester City moved up the table with an excellent 3-0 victory at Telford. The day's events leave Dover (26 points from 27 matches) in 20th position just two points ahead of bottom placed Stalybridge Celtic who have three games in hand on the Whites. Scarborough are 21st, one point behind Dover with a game in hand. Leigh RMI are the team immediately above Dover, one point ahead on 27 having played two matches fewer whilst Woking are a further point ahead with one game in hand and Chester are in 17th place on 29 points from 27 games.

The Whites travel to Forest Green Rovers, who haven't won in their last seven matches and have drawn six consecutive matches at home, on Saturday desperate to regain ground on the rest of the bottom six.

WHITES could unveil their new owners on Friday if negotiations go according to plan this week. Director Bill Williams (right) revealed the club would be meeting its solicitors on Wednesday after lengthy dialogue with two consortiums bidding to takeover. Then, all going well, a club statement will be released before Saturday's away trip to Forest Green Rovers.

Williams said: "Once we get through our solicitors meeting, something is likely to happen. Because everybody has worked hard to sort out the club's future, I don't want to go into too much detail until we're ready 100 per cent. With a bit of luck we could be making an announcement on Friday, but we can't be completely sure at this moment. It's been a long process. With 15 people involved, including the current owners and consortium members, we're having to strike a deal which suits every individual. As you can imagine, that has required a lot of time but thankfully, due to the hard work of Neville Southall, the club is ticking along OK at the moment."

Dover's financial problems, first revealed by former director Jim Parmenter in a Dover Mercury article in the summer of 1999, are in need of urgent attention and without investment the club admits it will be difficult to continue at Conference level. The New Year's Day postponement of the home game against Margate didn't help matters but Williams added: "Nev's idea to hold a dine with the manager evening, as well as arranging friendlies against Spurs and Charlton has eased our loss in revenue a little. Some local businesses have got in touch with us too and sponsored games. Generally the support from the town has been good and I urge supporters and local businesses to continue getting behind the club."

NEVILLE SOUTHALL believes this Tuesday's match against Premiership side Charlton Athletic will be the club's biggest match since he took charge. Although there's no vital points to claw Dover out of the relegation zone at stake, Southall insists the game is every bit as important as a Conference match.

It will give him an excellent opportunity, without the pressure of winning, to make his mind up on some of the players he wants to bring to Crabble. The Dover boss, who watched his team slump to their second league defeat out of three under his stewardship, hopes to have six players on parade against Alan Curbishley's men.

Southall admitted: "The match is very important. It's vital for me, so I can look at some options on the playing front. We have a shortfall of players at the moment after letting Colin Vowden, Darren Carr and John Elliott leave this week and allowing Tommy Tyne to join Welling on loan. But that was something I was expecting to happen. I couldn't bring players in until after I shifted men out. Now I have some room to recruit players and there should be at least six new faces for the Charlton match. Not all of them will start, but they'll all be involved during the evening."

Curbishley has promised Southall he will bring a "very strong" side down to Crabble. It is expected that nine players with Premiership experience will play. And it is important Dover supporters get themselves to the game and help the club raise much-needed funds, like they did against Doncaster on Saturday. Southall is chuffed that Whites fans are turning up at Crabble in big numbers and has been impressed by their support. He said: "The Doncaster match got nearly 1,200 fans and for a team in our position that's excellent. We really do need to maintain that kind of support. It will keep the club going and help the team on the pitch achieve the results that can get us out of this mess."

The Dover boss said Saturday's 1-0 defeat saw a performance that impressed him more than any of the four previous games (including the Spurs friendly) under his management. Although he is quick to point out that his side will need to improve on that if they are to stay up. He said: "It was nice to see a few of their players on the ground for a change. That meant we were getting our tackles in and were more solid. The main problem was our ball into the front players. We need to have a better quality of service to the strikers. Phil Stant and Keith Scott will get goals if they get good balls, I'd put my mortgage on that."

"Phil's presence improved us. He is vocal and was encouraging the boys on throughout. His presence in the dressing room is invaluable. I genuinely believe we're not too far away from getting results. We have a better spirit in the camp and my trimming of the squad is almost over."

"I'd say there were two players out there who I was disappointed with. It wasn't their commitment that was to blame. They didn't quite give us what I'm looking for, but I've had a little chat with them about it and we'll see how things develop."

Southall has spoken to 19-year-old Millwall midfielder Rio Alderton (right) and is hoping to include him in the Whites side on Tuesday. Alderton, a 6ft 1ins tough tackler who has progressed though the youth ranks at the New Den, is currently playing in the First Division club's reserve side and was in the squad for a game at Walsall earlier in the season. The Dover boss said: "He's a strong man who gets stuck in, so we'll take a look at him. I've been talking to plenty of Football League sides and I'm just waiting on phone calls back."

Southall has been tracking Cambridge United marksman Leon Kelly (left), who has been on loan with Nuneaton Borough this season. The 23-year-old was keen on linking up with Southall, but the Second Division side are asking for "silly money". Southall said: "I've been chasing him since I got the job here. He's a strong, pacy and direct front man, but Cambridge seem to think we're millionaires and have been asking for silly money. We've been waiting for a call back for ages and time is not on our side, so we're probably going to look elsewhere."

The Dover boss denied James Aggrey had joined Blackpool, saying: "He had flu on Saturday and called me in the morning to say he couldn't play. At the moment, he is still a Dover Athletic player."

The match against Charlton kicks off at 7.30pm and Southall jested: "I might even give young Alan Curbishley a game for us."

DEAL TOWN could become Dover's nursery club. Neville Southall, who moved to Deal last week, is hoping that the Kent League Premier Division side could be a great place for fringe players to play, rather than in the reserve team. The Dover boss said: "The Kent Premier Division is a better standard and it will allow our reserve side purely to be an under-19s team. The reserve league doesn't really help the older players who are on the fringes of our first team, so we're in discussions with Deal. It will help us and of course help them too. I think it's an excellent chance for both clubs. It'd be great if it happens."

Dover Athletic will take on Premiership side Charlton Athletic at Crabble on Tuesday 22 January. The game has been arranged to raise money for the club and Charlton boss Alan Curbishley has promised to send a strong side. Kick-off is at 7:30pm.

BIG Nev has signed a man he can trust to help Keith Scott in attack. The Whites boss completed the signing of 39-year-old marksman Phil Stant on a week-to-week basis this week and he will make his debut against Doncaster Rovers this Saturday.

Stant, who played for 14 League clubs, most recently for promotion-clinching Brighton and Hove Albion, has never worked with Southall before. But the Dover boss said: "He's got plenty of experience, can still score goals and is a player we can trust to give 100 per cent."

Southall is confident that at least two more new faces will be in the Whites side that take on Charlton Athletic in another friendly at Crabble next Tuesday (7.30pm KO). Addicks' manager Alan Curbishley has promised to send down a strong team after Southall told him of Dover's financial problems.

Forward John Elliott (right) and defender Darren Carr have had their contracts terminated by the club. Dover boss Neville Southall needed to release players before he could bring in new signings and these players were not in his long-term plans for the club.

Dover midfielder Jimmy Strouts (right) has been saved from a four match suspension by video evidence presented to the FA. Strouts appealed against his dismissal at Hayes on 5 December for alleged violent conduct. The FA upheld the appeal and reduced the punishment to a yellow card. This means Strouts will be available for selection this Saturday when the Whites take on Doncaster Rovers at Crabble in the Conference.

NEVILLE SOUTHALL has five things on his shopping list - three new players, a washing machine and a tumble dryer.

The Dover boss, who this week is moving to a new home in Deal, is working around the clock to make the club more professional on and off the pitch. And anyone who doubts Southall's commitment to the manager's post should know that he returned to his North Wales home at 4am on Tuesday after a six-hour drive from Dover.

Between him, assistant Clive Walker and director Bill Williams, 50 telephone calls were made on Monday chasing the men he desperately needs to boost the Dover squad.

Southall, who had just arisen from his slumbers after the long trek home in the early hours of Tuesday, quipped: "I was told this job was part-time. I think part-time means I work nine months out of 12!"

He said: "Everyone involved with the club have been magnificent. Supporters have got behind the club on the terraces and helped in other ways."

"One man came into the office on Monday and told me he'd bought us 20 towels for the squad. That's saved us £200 and paid a player's wages for a week. It might not sound a lot, but things like this really do help."

"At the moment, the club needs a washing machine and a tumble dryer. Robin Hastie and his wife do all the club's washing at their home every week. That's a lot of work and Robin has got a busy full-time job as well."

"Robin, his wife and the guy who bought some towels epitomise the spirit at Dover Athletic and are an example to everyone. It's unbelievable commitment and exactly what we need on and off the pitch."

"These are true Dover Athletic people. People who love the club. And we need this mirrored on the field by all the players."

Southall said he had "300 irons in the fire" in his efforts to recruit fresh faces for Dover's relegation battle. And he said one new signing should be in the side that faces Doncaster Rovers at Crabble on Saturday.

Southall said: "I need three new players in the team. They are not going to be world-class superstars, but will be players I trust to give 100 per cent to our cause."

"A relegation battle is a tough business. I want fans to realise they're not going to get Manchester United-style play from us this season. But they can expect to see a team of honest grafters. Every man will be committed to keeping this club in the Conference. Hopefully within two weeks, I'll have the players I want in and the players I don't out."

Tommy Tyne has joined Welling United on loan until the end of the season - but Southall insisted his Dover future is not over. He said: "I feel at 20 he's a little inexperienced for a relegation dogfight. Tommy's a good player and I've been impressed with him - but I need someone who can definitely handle the heat."

"It's better for Tommy to play in a winning Welling side to develop his talents than playing in our reserve side."

The financial restraints remain tight, but Southall said the club would still survive the season - despite missing out on a big payday due to the postponement of the Margate game on New Year's Day.

But the Dover boss stressed that every supporter needs to show his or her face at Crabble on Saturday and every home game until the end of the season. Numbers through the gates bring much-needed revenue. Supporters should remain patient and, if results are poor, leave Crabble satisfied that they're helping the club survive and build for the future.

Southall admitted: "The club needs to open itself to the fans. For whatever reason, fans have been neglected for the last couple of years and we've got to sort that out. Dover Athletic must be a club for its fans. It's they who make the club stronger."

"We need to be at the centre of the community and I've already been visiting local schools to get kids involved. They will, after all, be the club's future."

Removal men will be pulling up outside Southall's home on Thursday morning as he switches his home to Deal. That will give the former Everton and Wales star even more time to dedicate to Dover Athletic. And maybe find someone to donate or buy the club a washing machine and tumble dryer.

He said: "If anyone has one they can give us, it will be so appreciated. As silly as it sounds, it will help the club."

SPORTS journalist Justin Allen is joining the Dover Athletic website team. The former Mercury sports writer, who now works for the Daily Star in London, will be helping raise the club's profile to its supporters on the web.

He has already got Big Nev's co-operation for a number of ventures he plans before the end of the season.

The regular feature starts this week with an interview with the Dover boss and Southall has promised to participate in a questions and answers column with fans only on this website. Simply email your questions for Big Nev to Justin at justin.allen@dailystar.co.uk before next Tuesday (January 24) and the best questions (if not all) will be put to the Whites manager. And his answers will appear on this website.

Southall said: "I want to know what the fans think and to know that I'm very interested in their views. This club has got to open itself to the supporters, because they are what makes the club."

"I've already been impressed with the fans here, so please email your questions to Justin and I'll do my best to answer them."

Simply include your full name, age and town - with of course your question for Big Nev - and Justin will do the rest.

Justin said: "The club has clearly lacked good communication with its supporters and I'm happy to help out with what will hopefully make some interesting reading for Dover fans."

Dover forward Tommy Tyne has signed for Welling United of the Dr. Martens League Premier Division on loan. Manager Neville Southall believes the move will benefit the player who joined the Whites from Millwall in the summer. The deal is for three months but Tyne could be called back before then if he is needed at Crabble.

Meridian Teletext Page 474 - 13 January 2002

Dover manager Neville Southall has said that he will be looking to off-load those players he feels are not pulling their weight. Southall was quoted on Teletext as saying that he believes around 90% of the players are giving their best, but in some cases their best might not be good enough. He says those players that are not giving 100% do not have a future at Crabble.

Dover Athletic will play a Tottenham Hotspur XI at Crabble this Thursday evening (10th January). The game has been arranged to help Spurs striker Steffen Iversen's return to fitness and also helps Dover to generate some revenue in the long period without a home match caused by the postponement of the New Year's Day fixture against Margate. Tottenham have promised to bring a strong side that will include Iversen and any players not involved in the previous evening's League Cup Semi-Final against Chelsea. Admission will be £5.00 for adults, £3.00 for concessions and £1.00 for under 11s. The match promises to be an entertaining one. Spurs visited Crabble in pre-season and contributed to an excellent game of football that ended 1-1.

Dover Athletic supporters have the opportunity to dine with new manager Neville Southall next Thursday (17th January). The cost for the three course meal is £15.00 per head and Southall will give a talk at the event. Phone Bill Williams (01304 822373) for more details or to book.

This afternoon's vital survival battle against Hayes at Church Road will go ahead after the pitch passed a 10:00am inspection. 18th placed Dover and 17th placed Hayes are separated by a single point and win for either side would move them further away from the drop zone, whilst defeat would put them right back in the thick of the relegation struggle.

Today's Nationwide Conference fixture between Dover Athletic and Margate has been postponed despite having been given the green light earlier in the afternoon. The game was given the go ahead at 1:00pm following a 12:30pm pitch inspection by the referee. However, the stand side of the pitch was still frozen at 2:00pm and the referee made a second inspection and reversed his initial decision in the interests of the players' safety. At 2:10pm the game was called off. The club apologises to those supporters who had already made the journey to Crabble and those that had already paid admission have been provided with tickets to the rescheduled match, the date for which has not been announced yet.

This afternoon's match between Dover and Margate at Crabble will go ahead after the pitch passed the referee's pitch inspection. Most Football League and Conference matches in England today have been postponed.

There will be a pitch inspection at Crabble prior to Dover's East Kent derby against Margate this afternoon. The inspection will take place at 12:30pm and is necessary because of a frozen pitch. Five matches in the Conference and several in the Nationwide League have already been postponed. The outcome of the inspection will be announced on this website as soon as the news is available.

Dover boss Neville Southall could unveil his second signing in this afternoon's Conference encounter with Margate at Crabble. The new Whites manager hopes to have completed the signing of a new forward. The identity of the player has not yet been revealed.

By Matt Gerrard

Dover Boss Neville Southall is appealing to local businesses to support the club in gaining much needed revenue and has started by asking for a sponsor for some much needed training kit for the players:

"The club has no money, but I am going to turn the club around on and off the pitch so that they have a more professional outlook and it would be great to have some proper training kit in which to do so. So I am appealing to anybody out there if they can sponsor us for 20 training kits and 20 towels, it will only be a couple of hundred pounds but will make a great deal of difference to the players. This club has a great deal of potential and I am certain that with more sponsors coming on board in helping all aspects of the club I can fulfil that potential."

If anybody is interested in funding some new training kit for the players or any other sponsorship deals please contact Commercial Manager Bill Williams on 01304 822373 to discuss things further.

Neville Southall and his players will be watching the Conference results this Saturday very carefully. Because the Whites chose to bring forward their game originally scheduled for this weekend, they have no match, but all of the other clubs in the bottom eight, with the exception of Leigh RMI, are in action.

Dover will be hoping that their fellow strugglers drop points as although the Whites moved out of the bottom three with yesterday's derby victory at Margate, they have played more matches than the rest of the clubs in the bottom half of the table, which means their position isn't as strong as it might look at first glance.

Dover are not in action again until New Years Day when Margate visit Crabble, a match Dover must get something from to keep their survival bid on track. Perhaps the most interesting of the weekend games is Hayes' trip to second bottom Chester City. Meanwhile 20th placed Stalybridge Celtic, who have three games in hand on Athletic, visit Hereford who themselves are only two points above Dover. Woking travel North to Morecambe and bottom club Scarborough, already in danger of becoming marooned at the bottom following their points deduction, will have a difficult task when they entertain Barnet.

Dover midfielder Jimmy Strouts will miss the FA Trophy Third Round tie at Stevenage Borough due to suspension. Strouts' booking at Margate yesterday, added to his three previous yellows and one red, means he will serve a one match suspension, which will keep him out of the match on 12 January.

Dover Athletic Football Club today announced the appointment of Neville Southall as Club Manager. Former Everton and Wales goalkeeper Southall needs no introduction. His impressive career record includes 93 full international caps for Wales and nearly 1000 league appearances, mostly for Everton with whom he won the League championship, FA Cup and European Cup Winners Cup.

Southall's coaching experience includes two years as assistant manager of the Welsh national team and he has recently taken over as manager of the Welsh Under 19s side, whom he will continue to manage on a part-time basis.

Southall is currently based in North Wales but has signalled his intention to move to the Dover area as soon as is possible. He is still registered as a player and has been providing goalkeeping cover for Shrewsbury Town in recent weeks.

Clive Walker, who has been in charge of the first team on a caretaker basis since Gary Bellamy's departure will continue in his role as First Team Coach. General manager Bill Williams will take over the Commercial Manager's role whilst Dave Scoggins remains with the club on a part-time basis as Club Secretary.

The club are still seeking investment to secure the long-term future of football in Dover. The new manager will not have any money to spend on transfers in the short-term but it is anticipated that the appointment will boost the club's profile significantly. With regards to off-the-pitch developments, the club have been talking to an interested consortium for a couple of weeks and will be continuing discussions this week.

Clive Walker has strengthened his small squad by re-acquiring the services of Tony Browne on a non-contract basis. The attacking right-back was disappointed to have been released by former Dover manager Gary Bellamy in July. He was one of a number of non-contract players released by cash-strapped Folkestone Invicta on Thursday and he was at Crabble yesterday afternoon. Browne was a key part of Dover's high-flying Conference side of two seasons ago and made 68 first-team appearances for the club in his first spell. He was not included in the squad yesterday as he is recovering from injury. Browne's signing addresses Dover's lack of a regular right-back.

The Dover Athletic Supporters Society Ltd. has been officially registered under the Industrial And Provident Societies Acts 1965 - 1978 and the rules of the trust, as drawn up by Supporters Direct with input from the working party set-up to form the trust, have been made available. You can download a copy of the rules from this website (in PDF format). You will require a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the document.

By Simon Harris

On Saturday, the launch of the Dover Athletic Supporters Trust will be marked by a presentation by local MP Gwyn Prosser on the pitch at Crabble.

The Trust has been born from supporters concern at the resignation of the board on Tuesday 30th October and a general reaction, not just of "What can we do?", but also of "How can we really get involved?".

Given that it was not possible to actually hold a meeting of supporters until Monday 12th November, the Trust has been born in record time. Of the 42 that have been previously set up through the offices of Supporters Direct, the quickest anyone had gone from first proposal to registered trust was Chesterfield in 35 days. The Dover Athletic Trust is due to have been registered on Wednesday 12th December, just 30 days after that initial meeting in the Centre Spot. This is in no small part due to the encouragement that has been received from nearly 300 people that have already signed up to indicate their interest, and due to the hard work of those that volunteered to be on the working party that was formed to set it up. Indeed, following the first working party meeting, Dave Boyle from Supporters Direct commented that it had been the most productive first meeting that he had ever attended.

So now the hard work can start. There is a real opportunity for the community of Dover to become part of its football club. The more people that join the Trust, the greater the strength of the Trust, and the more that it will be able to achieve. If at some time youve felt a warm glow of satisfaction that Dover has a football club that it can be proud of, then now is your opportunity to join a group that intends helping to build the club. Always remember - boards will come and go, directors will come and go, managers will come and go, players will come and go, even grounds can come and go, but the one consistent thing about a football club is the supporters. Its time to aim for another record with this trust - the largest trust relative to its fan base is Chesterfield, where the trust membership amounts to about 3,000 out of their average home gate of 3,500. The Dover Athletic Trust will therefore be aiming for a membership of 1,000. It can only be achieved through hard work, commitment, and the goodwill of the community as a whole.

With the advent of the Euro on 1st January, all those foreign coins that everybody has lying around at home waiting for the next time they cross the channel will be worthless. Help Dover Athletic by donating those coins to a special bucket collection at Saturday's game against Barnet.

Dover have been handed another tough cup draw, this time in the FA Trophy. The Whites must travel to Broadhall Way in the Third Round to face Stevenage Borough. The match will be played on Saturday 12 January 2002.

Dover Athletic's home Conference fixture against Southport has been brought forward to Saturday December 8. The match was originally scheduled for the end of March but has been moved as neither club has a fixture on December 8, the date of the FA Cup Second Round.

Dover Athletic supporters tonight voted unanimously in favour of setting up a Supporters Trust at a meeting in the Centre Spot. The meeting, organised by the Supporters Club and chaired by Supporters Club Joint Chairman Simon Harris, was attended by two representatives of Supporters Direct, Brian Lomax and Dave Boyle. They explained the benefits and aims of a Supporters Trust to the approx. 150-200 fans in attendance.

A Supporters Trust would be independent of the Supporters Club and would represent all fans. Membership would be by subscription and the cost would be set at a level that would allow all fans to participate. A Supporters Trust is a democratic, not-for-profit organisation. It is a legal entity and as such can own property and hold shares. Several clubs have already successfully created Supporters Trusts including Chesterfield, Northampton Town, Nuneaton Borough and Manchester United.

Supporters Direct is a government initiative. Supporters Direct provides support and assitance, including legal costs and start-up grants for supporters groups that wish to set up a trust.

There are currently 250,000 shares in Dover Athletic Football Club, owned by various individuals and companies, but the club has permission to offer a further 750,000 shares, which means there are plenty of shares available for a Supporters Trust to purchase. It is possible for a Supporters Trust to have a representative on the board of directors and this has happened at other clubs. In some cases the Supporters Trusts have even taken control of their football clubs.

The main purpose of a Supporters Trust is to secure representation for fans and strengthen links between the club and the community. If you would like to be involved in a Dover Athletic Supporters Trust or would like more information, contact Simon Harris.

On Saturday at Leigh Bill Williams was on the bench assisting caretaker manager Clive Walker.

Speaking on Sunday Williams (right) said:

"Clive asked me to assist him and of course I was delighted, in the short term, to be involved. It meant a reversal of our usual roles but the partnership quickly welded again and, although strange to be a number two for the first time in my career, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the day and the much needed result."

"Clive got off to a great start, he selected the correct team, was right tactically and changed the formation when it was required. We rode a bit of stormy water just after half-time but the team dug in and deserved to win."

"I need to reiterate that I have no desire to be involved in the sharp end of the team but will do all in my power to assist Clive in the short term. My job here at the club now is to make sure that we are able to raise the necessary funding so that the club continues to operate in the years ahead."

Dover Athletic manager Gary Bellamy has left the club by mutual consent. First team coach Clive Walker will be in charge of the team for tomorrow's trip to Leigh. Bellamy (far right) took over in the summer and was in charge for 19 matches, of which Dover won 5, drew 1 and lost 13.

Walker (right) has been with Dover for five years, since joining as Bill Williams' assistant when Williams took over in 1996/97. He has previously managed Kettering Town in the Conference and holds UEFA's highest coaching qualification.

If ever there was a time when fans needed to attend a Supporters Club meeting it is next Monday night.

For many years the efforts of Simon Harris, John Farringdon, Chris Graves and many others have gone unrewarded by turnout for Supporters Club events. But this meeting is like no other. It's a meeting that could go a long way to helping solve our beloved club's problems.

Sure, the financial burdens won't be lifted by a big attendance at the Centre Spot on Monday evening alone, nor by the fantastic 1,300-plus gate and remarkable £1,792.12p bucket collection on Saturday for the Stevenage match.

No. The only way the club can be saved is for a sustained financial input into the club. Dover Athletic need money to be injected through businessmen - along with a healthy income from gate receipts, Striker returns, merchandising and commercial ventures. And kind donations from supporters. The attendance on Saturday and the many postings from fans on this website show that the town REALLY does care about its club.

Although this financial trouble has been hanging around the club's neck for some years now, the only true crisis Dover Athletic supporters can remember since the club's reformation in 1983 was the threat of relegation on the last day of the season in 1994/95 when we took on Kidderminster Harriers. That day the true spirit of Dover won through - the spirit of a town that has been battered for so many years by war, unemployment and immigration problems - when Whitfield's very own Matt Carruthers aptly hit the late winner.

People take pops at Dover. But one thing that can never be taken away from this famous town is its "salt of the earth" people. And it is those people, you guys, who are going to help save this football club.

Dover Athletic got into the Conference through a lot of hard work. Not just from the financial clout of local businessmen like John Husk, his brother Alan, Gordon Goodacre, as well as others, and the managerial brilliance of Chris Kinnear.

It also got there because the town got behind the club in a massive way. My biggest regret as a Dover fan was being unable to attend that record-breaking Bromsgrove Rovers match, when we attracted over 4,000 for the Beazer Homes League title decider, because I was peeling spuds in a Folkestone chip shop.

Margate may have knocked us off our perch this season as Kent's No.2 club, but even they could never enjoy the kind of support we are capable of getting when we're on a roll.

There's a big passion for football in Dover and that was proved in abundance on Saturday.

But what we need - especially now more than ever - is for the fans to get to Crabble like they did against Stevenage, like they did for that Kidderminster Harriers crunch-match in 94-95, like they did for the Bromsgrove epic and the heart-breaking FA Trophy semi-final against Cheltenham, and many other memorable matches, week in, week out.

Yes, we're second from bottom. Yes, we lost again on Saturday. But who gives a monkey's about results now? The single most important thing is saving Dover Athletic.

We have a team in the Conference, just one step away from the League, and are the envy of many clubs. Let's not let it all slip away without a fight. I have been unable to get to many matches since leaving the Dover Mercury because of my work commitments and can't make Monday night myself, but by writing this article I hope I can at least somehow help by sharing my passionate views with you all. And I am sure they are views all Dover supporters, many of you who I know well, will agree with.

I urge everyone who can, get to the Supporters' Club meeting on Monday night and get to the home matches in droves.

And in some years you can all think back with pride to the 2001-02 season when you helped play a big part in saving a wonderful football club.

Justin Allen
(Daily Star Sportsdesk)
justin.allen@dailystar.co.uk

There will undoubtedly be those that, reading some of the press comment last weekend, will believe that Dover Athletic Football Club is safe and has a wonderful future going forward - all we need now is to get the results on the pitch! So why on earth should anybody be interested now in coming to a meeting next Monday?

It did become apparent early in the week that the comments in the weekends National papers were, at best, presumptive but hopefully, by the time you read this, the future of the club will be more secure than it has been for some time. However, where have we heard that before?

At last Saturdays game, the supporters reaction to the plight of the club was fantastic. The number of people who paid rather than use passes or season tickets, the number of people that spent money in the Club Shop, the number of people that queued to buy food, and, most especially, the number of people that gave willingly to the bucket collections, which raised an amazing £1,792.15, can only have given encouragement to anybody who might be considering putting money into the club.

However, the complaint that is heard most often on the terraces is that supporters dont know what is going on at the club, and there is no reason to suppose that there will be any change in this.

We are, therefore, STILL asking that supporters come along on Monday 12th November at 8.00pm with a view to coming up with some concrete proposals as to how we, as supporters, can help with the long term future of the club, and we sincerely hope that representatives from the club will attend to give us their input.

Certainly, we want to hear any proposals that anyone might have, but we do have a suggestion ourselves to put forward for consideration. There are now in existence about 50 Supporters Trusts at clubs throughout the country ranging from Enfield Town to Manchester United and Celtic! Through the offices of Supporters Direct, a government funded initiative set up explicitly for this purpose, supporters are getting an involvement in their club and representatives of Supporters Direct will be attending the meeting next Monday to give the benefit of their experience. This not only works at various levels of the game, but also works at various levels of support. Certainly there are clubs, like Chesterfield and AFC Bournemouth, where the Supporters Trust is running the club. But there are other clubs where the Supporters Trust is the main fundraising arm of the football club.

Any money that went from a Supporters Trust to the club could be used on whatever the club wanted, including strengthening the team. The whole point is that rather than simply giving money to the club and the board saying thank you very much and shutting the door afterwards, a Supporters Trust is a legal entity entitled to raise funds and hold assets - assets including shares. There are enough shares in issue at this club, for them to be allotted to the Supporters Trust at no material cost to the club.

This is a long-term matter. A Supporters Trust would raise funds for the club over a length of time, but would give an opportunity to be a proper participant in club affairs.

If you want to try and help the club avoid this situation arising again in the future, be at Crabble on Monday 12th November at 8.00 pm - if theres too many for the Centre Spot (and Id love it if there was) then well go out and talk on the terraces. After all thats where supporters belong.

Simon Harris
Supporters Club Joint Chairman

Dover manager Gary Bellamy has told Nationwide's football site that he believes the club are "80 per cent certain to go into administration". He also commented that he was not confident of his long-term future at the club.

The collection organised by the Supporters Club to raise funds for the football club raised a total of £1,792.12 at yesterday's match at Crabble.

The Nationwide Conference match between Dover Athletic and Nuneaton Borough has been brought forward to Saturday 17 November. The game was to have originally been played on 29 December but has been brought forward as both clubs had no fixture on 17 November.

Finally some good news this week. Dover goalkeeper Phil Smith has been selected in the FA XI squad for the match against a Dr. Martens League Select XI on Tuesday 22 November at Crawley Town. The 21-year-old, signed from neighbours Folkestone Invicta, has made a good impression since joining the Whites in September despite only playing seven games for the club.

The Supporters Club have arranged a meeting to discuss how fans can help the club through this difficult period. The meeting will be in the Centre Spot at 8:00pm on Monday 12 November. Everybody is welcome, not just Supporters Club members.

DOVER ATHLETIC FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED

On Tuesday 30 October 2001 Roger Malcolm Knight and James George (Jim) Gleeson announced their resignations as Directors of the above Company.

In resigning as Chairman of the above Company, Jim Gleeson indicates that a number of factors led him to his decision.

When he and another person agreed to support the Football Club in November 2000 it was on the understanding that the likely combined financial input was to be a maximum of £50,000. Many savings to assist the Club were considered possible e.g. closure of the Worthington Street shop and the Office relocated to the Crabble Ground. In the event the total indebtedness of the Club (which subsequently became apparent) resulted in the figure of £50,000 becoming almost £100,000 and the club still carries past debt.

Attempts to equalise shareholdings in the Club and resolve loan arrangements with the Club failed to result in a satisfactory outcome. Efforts to attract other investors to the Club failed having regard to loans on the Balance Sheet and the profile of the shareholdings in the Company.

Having personally injected into the Club in the order of £100,000 in money and time but with no effective control over events Jim, with considerable regret and upon advice, concluded he had no option but to sever links with the Club. This he has done by standing down as Chairman and resigning as a Director of the Company.

Only last week he endeavoured to resolve the issue of the loans and the structure of the Company responsible for the running of the Club but without success. Having been advised somebody else may be interested in running the Club Jim took the decision announced yesterday and his Co-Director (who has also injected considerable finance and time to the Club) confirmed his intention to resign at the same time.

Both men are willing to continue maintaining an interest in the Club Jim states that "difficult decisions will now have to be made by those who own the Company/Club. Hopefully, a new chairman will be able to reorganise the financial circumstances of the Company and its shareholdings". Roger confirms his willingness to continue production of the Club's Match Day Programmes subject to appropriate arrangements with the Club being concluded.

Jim, as a minority shareholder, feels he has borne a disproportionate share of the responsibility for the Club/Company finances. In the months he has devoted to the Club he has gained the perception that not only should the Chairman of the Company not be paid for his efforts but also he should finance, from his own pocket, any shortfall in revenue of the Company. This is neither acceptable nor appropriate.

Despite having expended so much time and money on the Club, Jim indicates "in the short term and in an effort to help the Footballl Club I am willing to continue the use of my Worthington Street Coffee House as the collecting point for the Striker. I am happy to allow the Club use of the catering trailers currently owned by Nuage. Further, Keith Scott can continue to use the car owned by Nuage while he is under contract. All other pieces of machinery and equipment provided by me or Nuage can be considered as donations".

No further comment will be made.

31^st October 2001

MEDIA RELEASE

Yesterday's decision by Jim Gleeson and Roger Knight came as a massive shock to everyone here at the Club.

Their reasons have been spelt out very clearly in the press release issued today and the seriousness of the present situation cannot be over-emphasised.

Survival is now the name of the game, both on and off the field.

At the moment there is myself, Dave Scoggins the Company Secretary and Team manager Gary Bellamy, we will manage the Club from today through to Saturday's game against Stevenage Borough.

This four day period will allow us to take stock, take the best advice available and set up meetings with the Club's shareholders in an attempt to get a clearer picture and some guidance as to what direction they wish the club to move in.

There is no doubt that the Club is in a serious financial state and that at this moment we cannot look beyond Saturday's game.

To all true supporters, the people and businesses of Dover, if you do not want to see the demise of your Football Club then please help in anyway. Now is the time to come forward and I would urge the Town not to abandon its Club.

End

Enquiries: Bill Williams

Date: 31/10/01

Meridian Teletext Page 475 - 30/10/2001

Dover Athletic chairman Jim Gleeson and director Roger Knight have resigned from their positions at the club. The decision follows the chairman's warning a couple of weeks ago that the club's financial situation was not good. Jim Gleeson took over as chairman one year ago and in that time has invested a significant amount of his own money in the club.

The club as yet have not made a statement about what will now happen but manager Gary Bellamy has criticised the people who complained about Jim Gleeson's running of the club.

Dover defender and fans favourite Lee Shearer has confirmed that he has been having transfer talks with local rivals Margate after being told that he would no longer be guaranteed first team football at Crabble. Shearer, who missed Saturday's game at Southport with a virus, has been told by Manager Gary Bellamy that he can leave if the club receive an acceptable offer.

"I need to be playing football and refocus on my career, Dagenham and Cheltenham were interested in me but they have pulled out. Cheltenham have no money and are interested in signing me on a Bosman at the end of the season but I can't really wait until then and I have had a couple of chats with Margate. They have some advantages as they are local so I don't have to move and I would say it is a good chance that I will be joining them".

Shearer, who has a cult following among the Crabble faithful, joined the club originally on loan from Leyton Orient in 1997 and has been the mainstay of the defence since then, but has struggled this season under the new regime of Gary Bellamy, whom he originally knew from his Orient days, and has been relegated to the bench in the last few games. The departure of Shearer would be a big blow to the supporters in seeing him move to the club's bitter rivals but with the signing of experienced Darren Carr he believes he needs to play first team football.

"It would be a wrench to leave because everybody has been superb to me since I have been at the club, especially the fans, but it has been taken out of my hands, this decision, and I can not afford not to play football and this move may kick-start my career, which has faltered recently for various reasons and maybe a fresh change may do me good. I have asked Gary not to consider me this weekend as I do not really want to get cup-tied as this may put off clubs and I would have thought that a move may go ahead before the weekend's games".

Dover Athletic defender Lee Shearer will be allowed to leave Crabble if the club receive the right offer, Dover manager Gary Bellamy told the Dover Express. Shearer has lost his place in the side recently and has had off-the-pitch problems. He is widely regarded as one of the best centre-halves in the Conference and has made nearly 200 appearances for the Whites and scored 19 goals in his four years with the club. Meanwhile, Athletic have signed 33-year-old Darren Carr, who made his debut at Southport on Saturday, until the end of the season whilst Darren Davies, who has been playing on non-contract terms, is expected to sign a two-year deal this week.

Dover winger Chris Allen will be fit for Dover's FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round tie against Hereford on Saturday. The news is a big boost to Whites boss Gary Bellamy who will be without the services of three players. Forward Tommy Tyne is serving the second match of a two game ban whilst loan players Chris Dorrian and Gareth Risbridger will play no part as their clubs do not want them to become cup-tied. Midfielder Jimmy Strouts will be available despite an earlier report on this site that stated he would be suspended.

Dover Athletic are tipped to beat Hereford United in the Fourth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup this Saturday. Ladbrokes in Worthington Street, Dover have the Whites priced at 5/4 to finally break their FA Cup jinx whilst Hereford United are slightly longer odds at 6/4. The draw is 5/2.

Ladbrokes are also offering odds on the possible margin of a Dover victory. 1-0 and 2-1 are both priced at 7/1 with a 2-0 win at 9/1.

Dover Athletic manager Gary Bellamy will be without winger Chris Allen for the match at Southport today. The former Nottingham Forest winger is suffering from a thigh injury that he sustained at Scarborough last weekend. Meanwhile forward Tommy Tyne is starting a two match suspension following his dismissal at Woking. These absences could mean a start for John Elliott but the Whites boss also has two new faces in his squad. Experienced defender Darren Carr, 33, has linked up with Athletic after having been released by Second Division Brighton. He is joined by former Altrincham winger Soner Zumrutel who until recently was playing in the Turkish league.

The Whites will be looking to build on last week's result at Scarborough, their first away point of the season, and move off the bottom of the table before turning their attentions to the FA Cup next Saturday.

Midfielder Niall Inman (right) has been released by Dover Athletic. The player, signed from Peterborough United in the summer on a one-year contract, has left Crabble after failing to force his way into the first team this season.

Dover Athletic will be at home against fellow Conference club Hereford United in the Fourth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup. The Whites, who have never reached the First Round, played the Bulls away last month and lost 3-0. They will be hoping for a better result in their first home draw in the FA Cup since 1996. The game will be played on Saturday 27th October.

Former Dover Athletic manager Bill Williams, who left the club in the summer to take over at Kingstonian, has returned to Crabble as General Manager. Williams resigned from Kingstonian last week. He was Dover's most successful manager at Conference level in his four and a half years in charge but in his new role he will not be responsible for team affairs, manager Gary Bellamy retains full control. He will instead be in charge of off-the-field activities.

Dover Athletic have appointed current Under 18s manager/coach Richard Langley as their new Reserve Team manager following the departure of Steve Nolan. Nolan left the club last week to become Mark Beeney's assistant manager at Dr. Martens League club Sittingbourne. The new boss' first game in charge is this Saturday when the Reserves take on Deal Town at Crabble.

Dover Athletic chairman Jim Gleeson today confirmed that winger Chris Allen, who has impressed playing for Dover on non-contract terms in recent matches, has signed a two year contract with the club. The former Nottingham Forest player put pen to paper this weekend.

Gary Bellamy yesterday moved to strengthen Dover's leaky defence by signing young Southend United defender Gareth Risbridger on a one month loan. Risbridger previously played in the Conference with Yeovil Town and moved to Roots Hall in the summer. He has yet to make a first team appearance for Southend. He is expected to be in the squad for this afternoon's clash with Northwich Victoria at Crabble.

Dover Athletic will reduce drink prices in the Centre Spot to £1.50 a pint between the final whistle of Dover's match against Northwich and the final whistle of England's World Cup Qualifier against Greece this afternoon, which will be screened in the Centre Spot following the Conference game.

Ahead of this afternoon's vital Conference match against Northwich Victoria at Crabble, Gary Bellamy's side are 5/2 on to be relegated this season, second favourites behind Stalybridge Celtic. Meanwhile the Whites are quoted at 500/1 against to win the title this season.

Dover Athletic manager Gary Bellamy has strengthened his squad by making two new signings this week. Left-back Darren Davies has signed from Scottish club Morton. Meanwhile 29-year-old winger Chris Allen, formerly with Nottingham Forest, Oxford United and Stockport County, has also joined.

The Nationwide Conference match between Dover Athletic and Northwich Victoria on Saturday 6 October has been brough forward to kick-off at 1:00pm so that fans can watch the match without missing England's vital final World Cup qualifier against Greece. The England game, which kicks-off at 3:00pm, will be screened live in the Centre Spot so that supporters can watch both matches at Crabble.

The Football Association yesterday vetoed the Football Conference's proposal to decide promotion by way of a five-team play-off. The FA made this statement on their website today:

The Council of The Football Association yesterday considered the application by The Football Conference to amend its Rules regarding the single promotion place from the Football Conference to the Football League (to be decided by play offs). The F.A. Sanctions and Registrations Committee had decided on July 23rd to reject the proposal.

Under the Rules and Regulations of The Football Association, the Football Conference required from the F.A. Council, consent to the proposed change. This position is also reflected in the Football Conference’s own Rules.

The Council decided that it had to determine the matter in the best interests of the game as a whole, and the Council’s attention was drawn to the detail of the Football Conference proposal.

The Council placed great weight on the principle that the champion of a league should be the club that is promoted if there is only one place available.

The matter was put to the vote, with 5 voting for the Conference proposal and 79 against.

The Football Conference’s proposal was therefore rejected.

In the debate, The F.A. Council expressed its support for greater promotion places from the Football Conference to the Football League, and also expressed its support for a place for the Football Conference on the F.A. Council.

Gary Bellamy yesterday completed the signing of Folkestone Invicta goalkeeper Phil Smith. 21-year-old Smith joined Invicta in the summer and is highly rated. He will be in the Dover squad for tonight's game at Farnborough.

Dover Athletic manager Gary Bellamy is likely to keep faith with the side that beat Boston on Tuesday evening for Saturday's visit of Stalybridge Celtic. The only player who there are doubts over is Matt Carruthers who missed training this week because of illness. Carruthers was a second half substitute in Tuesday's victory. Jimmy Strouts, who scored against Stalybridge on their last visit to Crabble three years ago, will make his last appearance before serving a suspension for his dismissal against Hayes last week. The likely Dover line-up is Paul Hyde, Chris Dorrian, Steve Norman, Jake Leberl, Lee Shearer, Colin Vowden, Jamie Day, Jimmy Strouts, Keith Scott, Tommy Tyne and Neil Le Bihan.

All matches in the Nationwide Conference this weekend, including Dover's home match against Stalybridge will be preceeded by a minute's silence as a mark of respect for those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks in the United States on Tuesday.

Despite rumours to the contrary, Dover Athletic midfielder Jimmy Strouts will not be following Danny Hockton to Dr Martens Premier Division side Chelmsford City. The Essex club, formerly managed by Dover boss Gary Bellamy, made an approach for Strouts but the versatile midfielder turned them down because he wants to stay at Crabble. Strouts, who has made well over 200 appearances for the Whites, is prepared to fight for his place in Gary Bellamy's new-look side.

Winger Lee McRobert has signed for his former club Hastings Town. McRobert was unable to establish himself as a first team regular at Crabble following his signing from Ashford Town 15 months ago, despite being one of the most talented players to play for the Whites.

McRobert made 55 appearances for Dover, including 10 on loan in 1997, and scored nine goals, many of which were spectacular.

Dover Athletic midfielder Neil Le Bihan (right) helped Great Britain to a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory in the final game at the World Student Games in China. Having lost their penultimate match 3-0 against Brazil on Tuesday, Britain faced a play-off for the seventh and eigth places in the 16-team tournament. Their opponents were Morocco.

Having gone behind in the 38th minute, ex-Woking midfielder Steve Perkins equalised for Britain five minutes later and the score remained 1-1 at full-time. The British team were 2-0 down in the penalty shoot-out when Le Bihan reduced the defecit to 2-1 and Britain went on to win the shoot-out 4-3 and claim seventh place in the final standings.

Le Bihan will return to the UK this week and should be available for Dover's trip to Hereford next Saturday.

Matt Carruthers (right), who has not played for the Whites this season, will be back in action this Saturday playing for the Reserve Team against Hastings Town at Crabble. The versatile forward could be on the bench for the first team on Monday against Hayes if all goes well.

Experienced midfielder Jimmy Strouts (right) is doubtful for Saturday's visit to Doncaster Rovers in the Nationwide Conference after withdrawing from the squad for today's game against Forest Green Rovers. Strouts had been named among Dover's five substitutes but pulled a muscle in the warm-up before the match and was forced to pull-out. Better news for manager Gary Bellamy is the imminent return of versatile forward Matt Carruthers. Carruthers was involved in the warm-up before today's game and should be fit enough to play some part at the weekend. Meanwhile defender James Campbell is still out of action because of the injury he picked up in pre-season.

Dover Athletic midfielder Neil Le Bihan will not be returning from the World Student Games in China with a medal after the British team lost 8-7 in a penalty shoot-out against Japan following a 1-1 draw. Britain have two games left and now cannot finish higher than 5th in the 16-team competion.

Ex-Millwall forward Tommy Tyne will make his Whites debut in the Conference game against Forest Green Rovers at Crabble this afternoon. The 20-year-old forward missed the first three games of the season through suspension but is available again and will start up front alongside Keith Scott. Tyne is likely to take the place of either Niall Inman or Jimmy Strouts.

Gary Bellamy has options if he decides to make other changes to the side that lost at Nuneaton on Saturday. Lee McRobert and/or Steve Norman could return to the starting eleven, though apart from the introduction of Tyne, Bellamy is likely to keep faith with the players that played on Saturday, which means loan signing David Parsons will make his home debut. Matt Carruthers is still unavailable through injury but is expected to be back in contention in time for the trip to Doncaster at the weekend. Neil Le Bihan will miss another three matches before he returns from the World Student Games in China.

The British team at the World Student Games, of which Dover midfielder Neil Le Bihan is a part, have won their final group game 6-1 to clinch second place in Group One and progress into the 8-team play-off for the medals. Ex-Woking midfielder Steve Perkins netted twice as Britain comfortably beat Nigeria. China's victory over Mexico guaranteed Britain second place.

The British team now play Group 4 winners Japan in their next match, on Monday. The other teams in contention are China, Korea, Ukraine, Morocco, Brazil and the Czech Republic.

Dover forward Danny Hockton has been sold to Gary Bellamy's former club, Chelmsford City, for £7,500. Hockton joined the Whites at the end of November 2000 from Stevenage Borough, for the same fee. Following the signings of Keith Scott and Tommy Tyne, Hockton was no longer a first team regular. He will be remembered by the Crabble supporters for his prolific goalscoring at the start of his Crabble career, netting ten times in his first twelve games. In total he made 22 appearances for the Whites, scoring 12 times.

Great Britain play their final Group One game in the 2001 World Student Games today and Dover Athletic midfielder Neil Le Bihan will be involved. The Whites star scored the goal that gave the British team a 1-0 victory in their opening match against Mexico on Tuesday. Britain then lost 2-0 to China, the host nation, on Thursday and play Nigeria, who are as yet without a win, in Beijing today, whilst China meet Mexico at the same time.

There are 16 teams in total in the competition, divided into four groups of four. The top two teams in each group progress to a knockout competition for the medals whilst the other eight sides play-off for 9th-16th place.

Gary Bellamy has reacted to Dover's poor start to the Conference campaign by moving Jake Leberl to left-back and reshuffling his midfield. Leberl, who has started the first two games of the season in central midfield, will replace Steve Norman (right) for Saturday's trip to Nuneaton. New loan signing David Parsons will partner Jamie Day in midfield. Jimmy Strouts is likely to be back on the bench with Lee McRobert returning to the starting line-up after his impressive substitute performance on Tuesday.

Talking to the Dover Mercury, Bellamy also revealed that his first choice front pairing are Keith Scott and Tommy Tyne. Tyne will miss the Nuneaton game through suspension but will be in the side for Monday's clash with Forest Green Rovers at Crabble.

19-year-old Leyton Orient midfielder David Parsons has joined Dover Athletic on a month's loan, with a view to a longer term deal. The former Arsenal apprentice was at Highbury at the same time as Athletic midfielder Jamie Day and the pair will be reunited in the centre of the park this Saturday at Nuneaton.

16-year-old Craig Cloke has joined Athletic's first team squad on non-contract terms and was on the bench for today's Conference encounter with Telford. Cloke has been involved with Dover Athletic for a number of years and used to play Saturday morning MiniSoccer at Crabble. He played for the Whites youth teams up to Under 14s level before moving to Crystal Palace. He returned to Crabble last season and played for the Under 16s.

Cloke joins 17-year-old Dean Frost, who was also on the bench this afternoon, as Gary Bellamy looks to give youth a chance. He is also looking at a couple of the club's other young stars.

The Dover Athletic FC Official Website now has its own .com address in addition to the original .co.uk URL. You can now reach the Whites website at www.doverathletic.com. The original address (www.dover-athletic.co.uk) will continue to function and all DAFC WebMail accounts will continue to use that domain.

Gary Bellamy has three players unavailable for his first competetive match in charge of the Whites. Matt Carruthers is still recovering from the ligament injury he sustained against Millwall a couple of weeks ago whilst midfielder Neil Le Bihan is in Hong Kong with the British Universities squad, preparing for the World Student Games in China, which start this week. Dover's latest signing, Tommy Tyne, is supsended for the first three matches of the season for being sent-off whilst on trial at Margate. Trialist James Campbell faces a fitness test.

The starting line-up is therefore likely to be the same as the XI that started against Tottenham last Saturday. That means Danny Hockton and Jimmy Strouts will remain on the bench despite impressive substitute appearances recently and Lee McRobert will partner Keith Scott in attack. The probable XI is Paul Hyde, Chris Dorrian, Steve Norman, Jake Leberl, Lee Shearer, Colin Vowden, John Elliot, Jamie Day, Keith Scott, Lee McRobert and Niall Inman. Strouts and Hockton will most likely be joined on the bench by Dean Frost, Jason Moore and Kevin Hudson.

The Supporters Club will not be forming the Travel Club this season because enough people did not sign-up before last Saturday's deadline. Those people who did sign-up will be given preferential treatment for all Supporters Club away travel this season.

Former Millwall forward Tommy Tyne, who had been on trial at Margate has signed a two year contract with Dover Athletic. Tyne played in Athletic's first pre-season friendly, at Sittingbourne and looked a good prospect. He has scored regulary for Margate in their friendlies. The signing gives Gary Bellamy more options in attack as Tyne is a different type of striker to Keith Scott and Danny Hockton. Tyne will be suspended for the first three matches of the season following a dismissal whilst playing for Margate.

Reserve and youth player Dean Frost has joined the first team squad on non-contract terms and two more youth players are expected to do likewise in the next week.

Midfielders Sammy Okafor and Craig Etherington have left Dover Athletic after manager Gary Bellamy decided not to retain them for the start of the new season following their trials at Crabble. Okafor (left) first linked up with with Dover at the end of last season on loan from Colchester United and made four appearances in the Conference. Etherington arrived on trial in the summer having been released by West Ham United.

Meanwhile Gary Bellamy is still considering whether to retain defenders James Campbell and Jason Moore. It is possible that one or both of them could be offered non-contract terms.

Dover Athletic have secured the services of Leyton Orient defender Chris Dorrian for three months on loan. The player was in the starting line-up for tonight's game against Folkestone and looked good. If things go well for him at Crabble his stay could be extended.

Dover Athletic Supporters Club are keeping their membership fees at the same level for yet another year. It costs just £3.50 to join the Supporters Club, but if you were a member last season and renew your membership before 31 October it will cost you just £2.50.

Members of the Supporters Club are able to take advantage of Supporters Club travel to away matches, which includes insurance so that if the game is called of you will get your money back. In addition Supporters Club members are covered by personal injury insurance at any game they attend in England or Wales and are entitled to 5% discount in the newly refurbished Dover Athletic Club Shop and 10% discount in the Supporters Club shop. All members receive a membership card and free newsletters.

If you would like to join the Supporters Club download the Membership Application Form, print it out, fill it in and hand it in at the Supporters Club hut at the ground or send it to the address on the form.

Dover Athletic yesterday completed the signing of experienced forward Keith Scott on a free transfer. 34-year-old Scott made his debut in the 3-2 victory over Purfleet last night. He has played around 250 games in the Premiership and Football League with Swindon Town, Reading, Wycombe Wanderers and Norwich City and in his career has generated nearly £900,000 in transfer fees. He has signed a two-year contract with the Whites.

Dover Athletic manager Gary Bellamy hopes to announce the signing of a new striker this week. The identity of the player, who has Football League experience, is not being made public yet but he is described as a player who can hold the ball up. If all goes to plan he could be in the squad for Tuesday's friendly at Purfleet.

Defender Ian Cousins will not be joining Dover Athletic even though manager Gary Bellamy had been lead to believe otherwise. The player, who is currently recovering from a serious knee injury, has changed his mind about a move to Crabble and will instead complete his recuperation at Chelmsford City.

In conjunction with CD Smith Coaches, Dover Athletic Supporters Club will again be trying to form a new Travel Club for the 2001/2002 season.

The season’s membership will cost £147, which will provide you with a seat on a coach to every away league game. If coaches had run to every game in the 2000/2001 league season, the travel costs would have exceeded £300.

Once the travel club is in existence, it won’t matter if only one person wants to travel to some far-flung part of the country on a cold, wet Tuesday evening - there’ll be a coach running.

Although this offer applies to league games only, Travel Club members will get preferential treatment, and substantially reduced prices, for any away cup games.

Payments must be in place by the last pre-season friendly against a Tottenham Hotspur XI on Saturday 11th August, but we will accept payment by instalments between now and then, and will also accept payment by credit card.

Clearly membership of this club will be limited to a first come, first served basis. Even if you can’t pay until 11th August, let us know that you want to join now, so you won’t be disappointed.

For more information, or to book your membership, either phone John Farringdon on 01304 827257 or call into the Supporters Club hut at Crabble on matchdays.

Please note that for insurance purposes Travel Club members will also need to belong to the Supporters Club.

Dover Athletic have signed Scottish forward John Elliot on a two year deal after the player impressed in the Whites' early pre-season friendlies. Elliot, who was capped by his country at Under 18s level, has played previously for Dundee United, Airdrieonians and Celtic. He can play both in midfield and up front.

Dover Athletic midfielder Neil Le Bihan (right) has accepted the invitation to represent Great Britain in the World Student Games in China. Gary Bellamy has accepted the player's decision even though it means he will miss the first six matches of the season. Meanwhile Conference rivals Woking have sacked three players who have also gone to China as part of the same squad.

Dover Athletic have secured the services of highly rated Peterborough midfielder Niall Inman for the forthcoming season. Peterborough boss Barry Fry has allowed Inman to become a Whites player for a year on the understanding that he will return to the Division Two club at the end of the season.

The 23-year-old, who has Conference experience from loan spells at Stevenage Borough and more recently Kettering Town, is expected to make his debut against Gillingham on Saturday.

Gary Bellamy included six triallists in his starting eleven as the Whites opened their pre-season campaign at Sittingbourne's central park. Former Welling United trainee Craig Etherington, who was released by West Ham at the end of last season, played the full 90 minutes of the 5-0 victory, half in central midfield and half at right-back. Defender James Campbell, formerly with Peterborough, and 20-year-old ex-Millwall forward Tommy Tyne were both involved for 45 minutes, as was wide midfielder Jon Allman, scorer of Dover's second. Ex-Scotland Under 18s forward and former Dundee, Airdrieonians and Celtic player John Elliot played the full match and scored the fifth goal. Sammy Okafor also featured, and scored Dover's third. He is on trial with Dover following his loan spell at Crabble at the end of last season.

Former West Ham United and Folkestone Invicta right-back Jason Moore, who was released by Athletic last season has returned to Crabble on trial and was at Sittingbourne tonight but was not part of the squad.

Dover Athletic manager Gary Bellamy has returned to his former club, Chelmsford City, to sign highly rated young full-back Ian Cousins. Cousins had attracted interest from clubs in the Football League before sustaining a serious knee injury. He is still recovering and will be unable to play until at least September, but Bellamy believes the deal struck suits both clubs.

Cousins, who was valued at £25,000 by Chelmsford, has joined the Whites for free but, should he recover fully and fulfill his potential, Chelmsford will be entitled to 50% of any fee Athletic may receive for him.

Dover Athletic are unlikely to win the Conference this season according to bookmakers. The Whites are 33-1 to win promotion to the Football League with Blue Square. Kent neighbours Margate are also 33-1 with only Forest Green Rovers, Nuneaton Borough, Stalybridge Celtic, Northwich Victoria and Hayes at longer odds. Boston United, who like Dover finished in the bottom half last season, are the early season favourites to lift the title at 7/2. Last season's runners-up Yeovil Town are joint second favourites, with Doncaster Rovers and Stevenage Borough, at 6-1.

Dover Athletic midfielder Neil Le Bihan has been selected to play for Britain in the World Student Games. However Dover manager Gary Bellamy is not keen on his player travelling to China for the tournament as it would mean he would miss the first eight Conference matches of the season. Bellamy has left the decision up to Le Bihan but has warned him to consider the implications which could include him finding himself surplus to requirements when he returns. Le Bihan, who has recently completed a course at the University of Kent, played in the 1999 Games in Spain. On that occassion he returned to Crabble injured and missed the first month of the season.

Dover Athletic striker Joff Vansittart today signed for Conference rivals Farnborough Town. Dover Athletic have not yet revealed the details of the deal but Vansittart had made it clear to new manager Gary Bellamy that he wanted to move on. He signed for the Whites in 1998 from Sutton United and scored 42 first team goals in 112 appearances for Dover, finishing as the club's top scorer in the last two seasons. The departure reduces the Whites' already diminshed squad even further, but Gary Bellamy is hopeful that he will have a full squad of 18 contracted players by the start of the season. To this end he is currently looking at a number of triallists. Midfielder Craig Etherington, who played for West Ham United's reserve team last season is one of the players on trial, along with Sammy Okafor who was on loan at Crabble at the end of last season. Others being looked at are defender James Campbell, who has been released by Peterborough, and Craig Edwards who was previously at Southend. As far as a replacement for Vansittart is concerned, Dover have already offered terms to a proven Conference marksman.

A large number of supporters turned up at Crabble this evening to welcome new manager Gary Bellamy at his first Meet The Manager evening. Chairman Jim Gleeson and Commercial Manager Dave Scoggins were also present and the trio answered questions for an hour and a half.

The new manager reiterated his intention to play attractive passing football and offered his opinions on various footballing topics. He intends to play a 4-4-2 formation but is still looking for five players to increase the size of his first team squad to 18. There will be several triallists on view when the Whites report for pre-season training on Saturday at Crabble. Most of the players that are being considered are in the 19-23 age range and have just been released by League clubs. The Athletic boss mentioned that one was a former England Under 18s right-back. He is also hoping to sign a young striker who is currently training with Queens Park Rangers.

Bellamy would not reveal who his captain would be, when asked, but stated that it would not be the goalkeeper, therefore ruling out current club captain Paul Hyde. He revealed that he is looking for a different type of striker to complement Joff Vansittart and Danny Hockton and that within the next twelve months the club would be looking to sign another goalkeeper.

When questioned on discipline, the new boss announced that players would be fined if they are booked or sent off for dissent or violent conduct.

With regards the recent speculation about full-time status, it was clarified that all players at the club are still semi-professional but that players who have been awarded new contracts recently are now paid 52 weeks a year rather than just in the football season. The squad will be training twice a week, on Mondays at the new training ground at the Borstal site and on Wednesdays at Chatham Army Barracks.

Dave Scoggins and Jim Gleeson answered some questions about off the field activities. The club will be improving the Match Day Magazine for the coming season with most of it now being in colour. There are also initiatives to raise the profile of the club in the town and to attract more supporters. The club also aim to increase revenues generated by the Striker lottery. The chairman explained that drinks were more expensive in the Centre Spot than in some local pubs because the club needs to generate income from the Centre Spot to contribute to the running costs of the football club.

At the end of the evening the supporters were left feeling positive about the new season and confident that Gary Bellamy is the right man for the job.

Gary Bellamy today announced that Tony Browne (left) and Colin Pluck have been released by Dover Athletic following the expiration of their contracts. Browne signed for Dover in the summer of 1999 and made 68 first team appearances for the Whites. Pluck joined in December 2000 and made 15 first team appearances last season. The departures leave Dover with just 13 contracted players for the start of pre-season training on Saturday but the squad will be joined by several triallists as the new manager intends to make five further signings before the start of the season. Some of the club's leading youth players will also be training with the first team.

The fixtures for the 2001/2002 Conference campaign were announced today. Dover Athletic start with a home game against Telford United on 18 August followed by trips to Barnet the following Tuesday and Nuneaton Borough the next weekend. The much anticipated derbies against Margate will take place over the Christmas period as expected with the Whites travelling to Hartsdown on Boxing Day with the return fixture at Crabble on New Year's Day. The league programme will finish in April this season to allow for the new end-of-season play-offs. Supporters should note that Dover will be playing the majority of their midweek home games on Monday this season rather than Tuesday as in previous seasons.

Dover boss Gary Bellamy has made his second signing since taking over at Crabble three weeks ago. 22-year-old Bournemouth midfielder Jamie Day has signed for the Whites on a free transfer as the new manager looks to strengthen his midfield following the departures of Dave Clarke and Danny Chapman. Day is a graduate of the FA School of Excellence and has represented England at Under 16, Under 17 and Under 18 level. He signed for Bournemouth two years ago from Premiership Arsenal for a fee of £20,000 and played against the Whites in their epic LDV Trophy tie at Dean Court in December. The club made the following statement last night:

Dover Athletic today announced that they have signed Jamie Day, aged 22, former Arsenal and AFC Bournemouth central midfield player.

Chairman Jim Gleeson stated that it is a most important signing for the club and further shows the intention of Gary Bellamy to gain promotion to the Football League as soon as possible.

Jamie was impressed with the definite approach of the Manager and Chairman to play attractive passing football and decided to plump for Dover rather than Margate.

Jamie was part of the FA School of Excellence at Lilleshall and played in teams with Michael Owen and Wes Brown.

Manager Gary Bellamy sees Jamie as the linch-pin of the midfield and a player that brings others into the game.

Day is Bellamy's second high-profile signing following the capture of experienced defender Colin Vowden last week. The Dover boss will decide on the futures of defenders Tony Browne and Colin Pluck when he returns from holiday on July 5th.

Dover Athletic will have ten youth teams next season following the decision to run the club's youngest ever sides, at Under 8 and Under 9 levels. The move reflects Dover Athletic's commitment to football in the community and provides more opportunities for local youngsters to play for the Whites and receive first class coaching. The move follows the successful introduction of an Under 11s side this season. There are now Dover sides at under 8s, 9s, 11s, 13s, 14s, 15s, 16s, 17s, 18s and 19s with many of the club's young players also involved in the Reserve Team in the Bass Brewers Kent League.

Dover Athletic have unveiled three new initiatives for next season, for the benefit of younger supporters. The club will be offering parents the opportunity to have their child's birthday party at Crabble. The package includes catering, a tour of the ground and a MiniSoccer competition.

The club will also be running Children's Matchday Specials for home games on a Saturday. These cost £15 and include five hours of entertainment including football coaching, a tour of the stadium, a chance to meet the players, a meal and a seat in the Family Stand to watch the match.

Also new for the new season is the Junior Whites scheme. Membership costs just £10 for the season and includes a membership card and welcome pack, a team photograph and a photo of your favourite player, free access to the Family Stand, discounts in the club shop and at Football Fun Weeks, and the chance to meet the players. Members will also be entered into a draw to be a mascot.

For full details of these schemes, visit the commercial page. For more information phone Dave Scoggins on 01304 822373.

New Dover Athletic manager Gary Bellamy has made his first signing, 29-year-old centre-back Colin Vowden who has joined on a free from Kettering Town. The player rejected moves to Conference rivals Stevenage Borough, Dagenham & Rebridge and Woking and fills the gap left by the departures of Simon Beard and Stuart Munday.

The proposal to increase promotion and relegation between the Nationwide Football Conference and the Nationwide Football League has been rejected at the Football League's AGM today. In order for the proposal to be implemented 50% of the 72 League club chairmen, including at least half of the First Division chairmen, had to vote in favour. Conference clubs have long argued that only one promotion place is unfair and is damaging to non-league football. The League clubs were concerned over the financial implications for clubs relegated from the Third Division.

Out-of-favour midfielder Dave Clarke has signed for Kingstonian for an undisclosed five-figure fee. The former Harrow Borough player was placed on the transfer list in December after stating that he did not want to play for the club. Clarke, who signed for Athletic in February 1998 for a £5,000 fee, made 96 appearances for the Whites and scored 3 goals.

Dover Athletic today announced the appointment of Gary Bellamy as Club Manager. Bellamy, a former Wolverhampton Wanderers player, has spent the last five seasons as manager of Southern League side Chelmsford City. Assistant Manager Clive Walker will be staying at Crabble. Chairman Jim Gleeson has stated that there is some money available for the new manager to spend on squad strengthening.

Defender Stuart Munday has spoken to the DAFC official website about his reasons for leaving Crabble. The former Brighton player who made 166 appearances for the Whites said:

"Sadly it is true, I am leaving Dover. I have been in a very difficult position. With Bill leaving and me being out of contract I have been in limbo, not really knowing what to do. I had a couple of good offers from a couple of clubs but wanted to wait to see what was happening down at Dover as I love the club and have had 5 great years there but I had to make a few decisions and didn't want to be left with nothing as the new manager might not have wanted me, but that's football for you, all about opinions. Jim Gleeson did speak to me but he would obviously have to go with the new manager as Jim does not pick the team. He has got a lot of unjustified stick on the forum as I have always found him to be a good man. He is new to the football world and has made some mistakes but I honestly feel his heart is in Dover and he is learning what a ruthless game football can be."

Stuart also wished to thank all of Dover's fans for the support they have given him over the last 5 years and for supporting him at his testimonial earlier this year.

Dover Athletic hope to be able to announce the appointment of a new manager tomorrow, or Wednesday at the latest. Despite reports to the contrary, the new man has not yet signed.

At the Football Conference AGM it was announced that the Bob Lord Trophy would not be contested in 2001/2002. The competition, which has had several name changes in recent years, most recently being known as the Nationwide Variety Club Trophy, had suffered from poor attendances and a lack of interest, with many clubs fielding weakened sides. The news will not be a blow to the Whites who have not won a game in the competition since 1995.

STUART MUNDAY has departed Crabble and followed Bill Williams to Kingstonian. The out of contract Whites defender opted to drop down to the Ryman League out of loyalty to his manager.

Munday said on Sunday afternoon:
"Kingstonian are an ambitious club. Bill is a great manager to work for and I believe he'll guide them straight back to the Conference. I had a good time at Dover but the time probably came for a change. Bill asked if I wanted to sign for his new club and I had no hesitation."

Dover Athletic are close to appointing a successor to Bill Williams but the identity of the new boss will not be revealed until the begining of next week. Ten people have been interviewed.

The first task of the manager will be to assess his squad and decide the futures of a number of first team players who are out of contract. Forward Steve Brown has already parted company with the club but there are other players waiting to find out if they will be required next season. Defender Stuart Munday has been linked with a number of other clubs but so far has waited to see if his future lies at Crabble. Colin Pluck who was signed on a short term deal last season is also out of contract and midfielder Sammy Okafor who spent the end of the season on loan from Colchester is also awaiting a decision on his future. The signing of released Welling player Lew Watts has also been on hold since Williams' departure.

The departures of a number of players since the end of the season will need to be addressed by the new manager who has been assured by chairman Jim Gleeson that there will be funds available to strengthen the squad.