It was quite odd that Barrie was the public face of Maldon & Tiptree and yet he himself admitted he knows next to nothing about football.

HOWEVER he seems like a very genuine man, in that he really wanted to improve the club and make it a big community asset. He genuinely seemed to want an affordable local club for ordinary local people. 

The bankrolling is always contentious, but they were going places (still are I suppose). The ground had a bit of a facelift. He is an interesting person and you can see why tv was interested in him - because he said interesting things had a lot of unique personality and was working on a project club.

Time will tell. Seems quite unbelievable to me.

So Torquay remain in this division and Hornchurch get promoted. Not great news.

@rh3 Fairplay to Hornchurch, theyve been consistently up there all season. I reckon they will struggle big time in the NL but then again it is football and anything can happen

Bit of a disaster with Torquay staying in NLS again. Going to be a competitive league again next year. Sounded like a great game by all accounts. 

Very pleased for Hornchurch, underdogs winning is always good.

Not delighted to have Torquay in our league again, but thems the breaks.

@dorking-eagle 

don’t know if anyone also listened to the radio coverage but thought their gaffer showed zero class after the game.. basically insinuated the referee was corrupt because he happened to be from East London. Paired with a lot of the negative chatter about Hornchurch’s stadium from a lot of their fans I guess I don’t shed much of a tear that they are staying down. 

Was delighted for Hornchurch. Watched that game and celebrated their goals- although probably would’ve been better Torquay going up from a Dorking POV. 

Whilst no doubt entertaining I thought the quality was terrible - from both sides, but especially Hornchurch.

I understand why many are saying it's not great for us, but in reality, if we stay injury free I can't see Torquay being a massive issue for us next season.

Well said Ade

And I am getting seriously annoyed by the negative put downs about Hornchurch's ground. Yes it will be a feat to get it up to 4000 and add the necessary facilities, turnstiles etc, but they will put their best foot forward and somehow manage it. 

Having the biggest stadium or average attendance in the division counts for little in the final reckoning.

Fans of Torquay and of NL clubs seem to have a blind spot about Gateshead's dreadful ground, the two sides empty at Halifax every week, no roof for away fans at Altrincham, the uphill hike to the away entrance at Aldershot, the feral home fans (and stewards!) at Solihull, I could go on! It's just an unnecessary cheap shot about Hornchurch.

Maybe they will be up against it next season, but they have earned the right to have a shot at it.

Well  done to both Hornchurch and Worthing. It has been hard for NLS sides to establish themselves in the League above in recent years. Only Yeovil (ex FL) and Wealdstone have managed it recently. Boreham Wood are doing very well this year but they have been NL before.

FWIW (not a lot!) Boreham Wood stay in the NL after losing to Rochdale in the NL Play off final at Wembley

Was a hell of a game and they’ll be gutted they didn’t win, definitely the better team on the day. Shocking pens from the Wood though!  
Rochdale obviously deserved it for the points haul over the season 

Harry Hugo (Farnham owner) on Twitter (X) showing off that they've raised £480k 

I know he is very proud of what he has achieved and what he is doing there, but am I alone in thinking he should be keeping the actual numbers to himself?

He is also extremely confident that their ground will have no trouble meeting the grade for step 1 football. I am a tad sceptical, as it seems to be bursting at the seams with 2200, and this season alone they have to get that up to 3000

He also seemed bullish that somehow he'd make it work for hosting EFL football. Aside from completely rebuilding it (again) I just don't think the ground footprint is big enough.

In unrelated news, Hornchurch (just promoted to the NL) have just announced their plans as to how they increase their ground from 3000 to 4000. The main basis of it is to remove their excellent steep wooden side stand (best bit of the ground IMO) and replace it with a side terrace that looks very similar to the newish one at Worthing. Obviously it's all about maximising space to get the overall capacity up, but it's a shame about the stand that will be going, as it gave very decent seated views of the game.

There's all sorts of other stands and terraces being moved about and put in, but incredibly they are not putting a terrace close to the pitch at each end (like at Chelmsford), so many fans will be watching from behind the far curves of the running track. I guess they must be limited with what they can do, but it's a shame really - it's a ground I stick up for but in reality it really is so hugely limited because of the running track and other athletics facilities...

@dorking-eagle It's a funny one over at Farnham, Harry seems quite suddenly to be on a one way mission to becoming a social media hit, is often arguing (or just baiting) others, being so open about numbers (David, I agree with you, it's probably best kept private) and generally boasting about the success so far and how far they've come. Humble, he aint.

My worry (for Farnham) is that this sort of very rapid rise and accompanying bragging doesn't usually end very well. He's talking about the EFL now too, which is fine but I do think a few seasons at NLS level would be best for now. And as has been previously mentioned, fantastic matchday 'experience' is all very well, but the reality is that many games are played in weather conditions that do not lend themselves to anything other than getting in the ground, supporting the team, watching the game and getting out asap - and I'm not sure that Farnham's hardcore support (which is what they will need most) is much more than around 500-700. 

Just my thoughts and I may well be wrong, but I don't have a great feeling about the way things are heading there.

You are exactly right Ade.

They need to grow and strengthen their support. Get fans consistently travelling away. Lose the money club reputation and show why they belong in NLS on AND off the pitch. 

Anyone can sit down with a blank sheet of paper, draw the stadium footprint on it and then place all sorts of stands from a brochure on it (on paper). A millionaire might even be able to buy those stands for cash too. But will 1500-2000 fans consistently fill them? Will the club be remotely sustainable? As it stands the ground is on a very tight plot, that would be my priority, slow down a bit, look at it properly and get right solutions rather than hasty plonking stands down all over the place with no overall masterplan that means things will need rearranging a couple of years later.

They can brag about the multi promotions and be proud of their rapid growth but a club like Farnborough or Tonbridge with genuine stadium infrastructure and volunteers that go back donkeys years will always be better placed long term IMO.