Ramsgate issue a statement on their manager and his staff leaving after 25 days in charge with a friendly cancelled before the announcement.
They wrote just after 5pm on Friday evening: “Tony Russell and his management team have left Ramsgate Football Club with immediate effect.
“The application process for this role is now open. If you are interested in this position please e-mail chairman@ramsgate-fc.co.uk
“As a result of this tonight’s friendly vs Kennington is cancelled.”
To which Kennington FC then tweeted, saying: “Nice of the club to inform us of the cancellation! Shambles.”
Nice of the club to inform us of the cancellation! Shambles https://t.co/joX9vA67n5
— Kennington FC (@KenningtonFC) July 5, 2024
Tonight’s game has been cancelled apologies for any inconvenience caused. pic.twitter.com/XwdnjhoeYi
— Ramsgate Football Club (@RamsgateFC) July 5, 2024
@bensmith88 fancy it?
— Danny_Keyte_Protection_Advisor (@DannyKeyte) July 5, 2024
RAMSGATE STATEMENT:
To all Ramsgate Football club members
I feel that it’s only fair to give you, our members, an insight into what has happened behind the scenes at the club this summer.
Firstly its important to outline that the success of the club over the past four years has been built on foundations of community togetherness. The youth section has grown from 100 to at times nearly 1,000. Season ticket holders have increased from just under 30 to over 300, average crowds from just over 200 to over a thousand, away support from a small band of regulars to coach loads. Whilst community projects have risen from negligible to thousands of meals being served and kids enjoying activities that even include flights around Thanet.
Together we have enjoyed one of our greatest ever seasons. A record points total, our best ever runs in the FA cup and FA trophy whilst our local centre forward broke the 50 goal ceiling.
Standing in the rain after defeat against Chichester in the play off semi final it seemed impossible that a season with so many highs ended with such a low.
Nobody felt this more deeply than Ben. A very emotional interview followed where things were said in the heat of extreme disappointment. Seb and I met Ben a few days after the game to confirm the new structure at the club that included Ben as first team manager for 2024/25 and Seb as director of football. We were all still hurting but Ben who is usually such a positive larger than life character still acutely felt the disappointment of not achieving our goals.
May is one of the busiest months for ambitious people in non league football. The vast majority of players are non contracted and available before league forms are issued in June. The truth is that myself, Seb and other stakeholders were keen to see us get around the table but Ben needed more time to recover from the play off semi final defeat. Eventually this resulted in the discussion with Ben where we all agreed that the best way to build a foundation for success this season was with a new manager.
We appointed Tony who has a very impressive managerial record. He quickly moved the majority of our squad on and brought in a number of new and very talented players. Many of these have been training with us and were scheduled to play on Friday although had not finalised their deals.
That brings me onto Friday!
The whole club was very excited to see Tony’s time at the club officially start with our friendly against Kennington. The standard football club chats and messages were exchanged and it was refreshing to feel genuinely positive on a rare Friday match day.
At around midday we received a message from Tony resigning from the club. Although unclear at first this seems to have stemmed from a miscommunication over small elements of agreements made when Tony took the job. These types of issues are common in any business and are often solved through communication but that was not to be achieved on this occasion. Seb contacted members of the coaching team to find out more information with a very keen eye on the friendly that was just hours away. We received confirmation at 16.30 that the management team would not be travelling to the match.
It is an unfortunate, unplanned situation but one where we now need to fcous on the future and our preperations for the season ahead. Football teaches us to expect and deal with the unexpected.
From this point onwards you are pretty much caught up. We moved quickly to inform Kennington, the players and officials and to make a statement.
I want to sincerely apologise to all of you guys and to Kennington for having to cancel the game on Friday evening but you now have an understanding of the position we were in.
The future is very bright for the coming season. The key objective of the club is to sustainably provide entertainment to the local community. We have great people including fans, players, coaches and back room staff who have become very good at achieving these goals.
I will provide another update as soon as i have one.
Come on you Rams
James
– STATEMENT ENDS –
The club had parted company with Ben Smith on the 7th of June, and three days later, Tony Russell and his assistant Joe Vines were appointed.
Ben had took Ramsgate to the Second Round of the FA Cup, going far beyond their expectations and done what no manager had done in their history.
The beat Woking at home in the First round in front of 3,000 supporters, then travelled to AFC Wimbledon in the Second Round, with it like on national TV for the first time in our history, with 17 coaches and 1,500 fans cheering the team on.
In the league for 2023/24, the Rams pick up an impressive 89 points, and included many incredible wins in front of huge crowds, but came 2nd, and then lost in the Isthmian League South East Division playoff semi final playoffs, 1-0 to Chichester City.
Ben said: “It’s been a year with such hugely memorable moments and times on and off the pitch that I will never forget. The level of performances from the players has been incredible to to produce one of the club’s best seasons ever and one in a style that the whole club could be proud of. The players have been great role models to the hundreds of youth players at the club and I am sure this will have a lasting impact on many.
“Ramsgate is an unbelievable club from top to bottom and it has been a pleasure to work alongside James, the directors and the army of volunteers and supporters who have given me and the players such incredible backing home and away, it was always valued and appreciated and won’t be forgotten. I was desperate to bring you all the promotion that the club is craving for and I am gutted that our season didn’t quite finish how we wanted which is something that will always haunt me.”
A week ago, he said via Kent Online, prior to departure of Tony Russell and his management team: “I wish Ramsgate all the best.
“I’ve no ill feeling towards anyone there.
“I’m not going to say Ramsgate isn’t a fantastic club just because I’m not the manager any more, because it is.
“It’s a fantastic club, with fantastic people. It’s a shame I’m not involved any more but that’s life and that’s football.
“I genuinely want to see Ramsgate promoted – genuinely.
“I hope Joe Taylor scores even more than he did last year.
“I wouldn’t begrudge anyone success, certainly not the people I’ve worked with and have given me everything.”
He was due to see out the second year of his contract, but he instead left after having talks with chairman James Lawson.
“Football moves on quickly,” he added. “Time waits for no man and football certainly doesn’t want for anyone.
“It’s the right decision for all parties.
“We had an amazing season but mentally it was so draining because we put so much pressure on ourselves to do well.
“Missing out the way we did takes a lot out of you.
“Suddenly, it’s we’re going again now and you’ve got a couple of weeks to get back into that mode.
“As a manager, you put your heart and soul into everything and, mentally, it’s a real challenge to say, that’s gone now, park that, we’re moving forward.
“It gives the club a clean break and it gives me time to look back and reflect on what went well and what I could improve on.
There were so many highs but it’s the lows that stick out at the moment and the way it ended in terms of missing out to Cray and then losing in the play-offs.
“I’m sure at some stage the other games, like the FA Cup and putting nine past Phoenix, will take over but not winning promotion will haunt me.
“I don’t think that’s something that goes away.
“I think I’m a better manager for the year at Ramsgate.
“When you put yourself into that sort of job, you’re there to be shot at.
“We weren’t too far from being perfect, which shows how good Cray Valley were.
“We had some unbelievable moments, like being on the TV in the FA Cup.
“You get to see another side of football that most people in non-league don’t.
“It’s easy to criticise from the outside but you’ve got to be brave to take on a big job like that.
“I think it’s the biggest Step 4 club in the south of England and possibly across the country.
“You’ve got to have the balls to make decisions that might make people unhappy and might get a lot of people talking.
“I thought I stepped up and we didn’t do badly.
“People talk about big budgets but I’ve done stuff on a lot lower budgets and you earn the chance to have a bigger budget.
“It’s then about what you do with it.
“Ultimately I fell short, so I see it as failure.
“I want to get back in but, after being at Ramsgate, it has to be the right club.
“I’ve had offers but it needs to be the right fit, something that really motivates me to put everything into it again.
“In non-league, you do it for the people, not the money.
“You do it for all the volunteers that invest time and effort into the club and we had some fantastic volunteers at Ramsgate.
“I like the community aspect of it which you don’t get higher up the pyramid.
“It’s not about levels for me, it’s about the impact on the community and it’s got to be a well-run club.
“That will either come up or it won’t and if it doesn’t, it’ll be even harder to forget about that last game at Ramsgate.
“I couldn’t finish like that – I have to go again.
“It’s a tough one because to get a job, someone else has got to do badly and that’s not a nice thing.
“I’ll go out and watch some games and take a rest.”
As mentioned, Ramsgate issue a statement on manager and his staff leaving after 25 days with their friendly cancelled just hours before kick off…
@cockneymagpie: Fell so sorry for the supporters of club that turn up each week, great support each week and then this. Wow
@Ralfie01: Holy shit
@sanger77: What an absolute farce 🤣
@StephenBeerling: What on earth is going on here? Some kind of explanation needed!!
@butcherboy180: Relegation on the cards.
@2bwatchingsport: This is the crazy world of non league summed up. Previous manager gets 2nd, agrees to stay for next season, players sign in the off season then he gets the sack a week or so later for this guy who promises them the world (and the club promise him the world) then he leaves a month later… before he’s even managed a game 🤦♂️🤦♂️
@lambiejoe04: Wait…. So splashing cash like you have a money tree does have consequences? I never knew…. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch 😘
@Leostroud4: What??? I’m so confused I beg this is a joke??
@OffTheLineBlog: I’m sorry, what?! They went + signed new players already. Now, they’ve just seemingly left on the night of their first game in pre-season. Seems awfully odd. Another normal day in the world of non-league 🤯
@lylebax100: Wow this is mental
@BarryCousins13: 300+ Season Ticket Holders need an explanation?!!!
@STGosden: Liz Trussell
@MichaelV023LFC: What the hell is going in at the club.
@allinsod: Ps WTF has gone on – the fans need an explanation
@Matchofthedoy: How embarrassing is this. Bottled the league and now this. The club don’t deserve promotion this season
@MattJSport: There are a lot of Isthmian clubs competing for ‘Circus Club of the Year’ but this lot surely take top spot.
@Jfordy7: Nothing shocks me in football anymore…. All I will say is that any club will be lucky to have these guys on board…. record speaks for itself! Shambles @RamsgateFC 🤦🏻♂️
@BatesInThePlace: Tony Russell only joined the club on June 9th. Sensational non-league nonsense from my local club.
@Jackalbion96: South East Non League never stops being entertaining
@Non_lgenonsense: Shambolic!!! Put the club in the hands of proper football people. Owner/chairman is unstable. Won’t ever progress with them at the top.
— Non League Talk (@Non_League_Talk) July 5, 2024
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