Dear Mr Parmenter,

May I take this opportunity to congratulate you and all your staff for the great job in saving the club.

I can look from the outside as I live many miles away in California but that is what you did. Maybe many Dovorians did not appreciate that.

Crabble has been on the town map since I was a boy. If you had not stepped in and taken the path you are taking as of right now, I believe Crabble would have been a new council estate.

I know from my childhood with my dad Harold on the BOD at Dover, how many nights he was away at meetings, traveling with the manager Jack Clover to clubs like Millwall, Crystal Palace, Fulham, on a wet Tuesday night trying to get players to come to Dover.

I can remember the celebration in our house when John Cartwright (now the director of their academy at Crystal Palace) signed for Dover.

I know how many hours you must be putting in that are unspoken of and coming from a family that has been involved with football it is great to see the old Lilywhite heart beating stronger than ever. It is great to see all those hours that my dad and our family gave up was worth it.

I believe in Clive Walker not only is he a true football man even wearing a suit to the games now! He has touched our family. My son spent a year around Clive at the PACE program, one that has produced first teamers of today’s squad.

Only last night we were talking and my son Roger mentioned how influential that experience was in his life. Unfortunately for him he wasn’t big enough physically to move on but even to a kid born and raised in California where the surf is more important than school work, Crabble means something to him.

In closing I wish you all the best for the future, a great businessman and a great football man can do unbelievable things, look at Wigan.

I will continue to follow the highlights and listen to the commentaries they are priceless. Good luck you deserve every bit of success, and thank you for bringing back the pride in their football team that is a big part of the community.

Just one promise don’t run for Mayor – we need you at Crabble!

ROGER CASTLE, Dover fan, Mission Viejo, California.