Lewes FC recently offered nine reasons why so many players only stay for a single season. It’s a comprehensive list, money, manager loyalty, travel distance, family circumstances, moving up leagues, each of them plausible and grounded in the semi-pro reality. But there’s one glaring omission that undermines the whole conversation: where we train.
Quite an omission?
I don’t know for certain whether Lewes FC still train in London. But we certainly did in the very recent past. Unless something’s changed behind closed doors, the assumption has to be that training sessions remain up in the capital. The logic is well worn: access to a wider, better pool of players. The reality, however, is far less convincing.
As a club we need to ask ourselves, as our budgets and aspirations diminish, is it still prudent to do so?
Twenty years ago, under Jimmy Quinn, Lewes had a team that trained locally. And guess what? That team was successful, at a level not so different from where we are now. They trained in Sussex, they played for Sussex, and they stayed. There was no need to dangle the carrot of midweek sessions in London to convince them. It was a tight, committed group that grafted for each other, for the club, and for the badge. That culture was built locally, and it showed when a team, built with no money but hunger and fight, ran out to represent Lewes FC v Stoke City in the first round proper of the FA Cup. Have we looked like doing that since we trained in London ?
One of the problems of the parade of directors with little longevity and history at Lewes FC is no recent directors, bar Wattsy, were around to see what it was like having a locally based team, when the start of the season was finding out if all the players stayed from last season, not whether anybody is left! Watching players, as assistant manager Billy Nixon said, who were sometimes essentially paying to play, busting their balls, running up and down Keere St for training!
I understand but do not agree with the rationale
Today, with finances far tighter and expectations still high, Lewes needs to revisit that model. We’re not in a position to recruit luxury players who stroke the ball around aimlessly, waiting for a move up the pyramid. We need young warriors. Hungry players from the Sussex County League or Isthmian South East. Lads who see playing for Lewes as a step up, not a stepping stone. This is still one of the highest profile clubs in Sussex. That should be enough of a pull for the right kind of player.
Hastings FC seems to have recognised this. New manager Lee Carey has made it clear: no more training in London. He wants a squad rooted in the town and its surrounds. He wants commitment, not convenience. And while it’s early days, that kind of strategy sends a message, to fans, to players, and to the broader football community, that this is a club built on connection, not churn.
Should we not, as we attempt to rebuild a self-sustainable, fan-owned club for Lewes, be looking to follow the example of the former Rooks sides? It was telling listening to a Hastings supporter on a recent podcast. Relegation, he said, is bearable, if the team plays for the badge. What truly irked him last season was watching new players who clearly knew nothing about the club or the town, offering the usual semi-pro lip service—“this club’s amazing”—before buggering off nine months later having sulked around the football pitch for the season.
Meanwhile, Lewes FC remains wedded to a model that looks professional on paper but is proving both financially brittle and culturally hollow. If you train in London, you’ll attract London players. And they won’t stay. Why would they? They don’t live here. They don’t play for the town. They turn up, train, and leave. The moment a marginally better offer appears, they’re gone.
By contrast, a squad built on local players is not only more affordable—it’s more cohesive. You get resilience. You get a shared sense of purpose. You get a culture. And you build something sustainable. Hastings is betting on that. Lewes, for all its claims to be a “community club,” continues to chase a recruitment strategy that reflects neither its budget nor its identity.
We can’t afford to build a team of drifting semi-pro journeymen any longer. And we shouldn’t want to. A well-drilled, hard-working, local side, built with intelligence and spirit, can outperform more technically gifted teams if it plays like a unit. Look at Wimbledon in the late ’80s. They didn’t play the prettiest football, but they played with heart, with aggression, and with unity. That’s what gets you into playoffs. That’s what keeps players around long enough to build something. Not trying to scientifically generate results with an agenda that does not work.
Lewes FC has tried the “stroke it around” style. It’s time to try the “stand your ground” style. And that starts with a tough question: why, when the club are analysing player churn, did no one mention the obvious?
Because until we’re ready to face that truth, we’ll keep rebuilding from scratch every summer—and wondering why nothing sticks.
#Lewes FC #Football Blog #Non League Football #Football Story #Equality FC
The Rights of Fans. 