Dover Athletic are looking for a new front of shirt sponsor with Exclusive Glazing not in a position to sponsor the club again this season due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its economic repercussions.

The Ashford-based company first appeared on the front of all three of our first team kits, as well as the Academy and replicas on sale in the club shop, during the 2019-20 season and had been due to do it again this season.

Chairman Jim Parmenter said:”We would like to thank Exclusive Glazing for their support and sponsorship last season.

”Times are tough for so many businesses and we understand that – we rely on local sponsorship and they’re all struggling.

”It’s something we must all accept and do our best to manage in these tough economic climate.”

If you are interested in finding out more about the sponsorship packages at the club, please email the commercial team at [email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left-back Bobby-Joe Taylor has today had his contract cancelled by mutual consent and left the club.

He made 61 appearances in all competitions for us, scoring twice, after joining following his release from Bromley in November 2018.

We wish him all the best for the future and thank him for his efforts while with us.

 

Dover Athletic would like to say a huge thank you, to you our fans, who have donated money through various fundraising ventures to help support the club during the ongoing COVID-19  pandemic.

We can assure you that at a time when the club is needing every penny it can get from all avenues your support and fundraising is both needed and the gesture is greatly appreciated by all of us at the club.

The Friends of Dover Athletic have raised £1682 through a Live Shirt Auction while fan Mark Winter has had £2815 donated through his The Rivals Walk.

You can get behind Mark and his cause at this link

Elsewhere, Jamie Parsons’ GoFundMe appeal, which he started in April, has raised £7588 and you can still donated here

The Dover Athletic Supporters Club have donated over £3000 so far and still have plenty more fundraising initiatives to follow.

William Stucken has organised the Save Dover Athletic fundraiser and you can see all the derails on his GoFundMe page 

We thank you one and all.

COYW!!

We can confirm that five behind closed doors pre-season fixtures have been arranged and all are subject to change in accordance with Government COVID-19 guidance.

Andy Hessenthaler’s side will first be in action at Isthmian League South East side Hythe Town at 7.45pm on September 1st.

That will be followed by trips to Margate (September 5th), Dartford (September 22nd) and Maidstone United (September 26th).

The games at Margate and Maidstone will all kick-off at 3pm while the Dartford game starts at 7.45pm.

 

Dover Athletic can confirm that goalkeeper/coach Lee Worgan has today had his contract cancelled by mutual consent and left the club to pursue a full-time teaching career.

The 36-year-old made 37 appearances in all competitions for us after joining from Maidstone United in October 2018.

After signing his release paperwork, Worgan said: “I would just like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at the football club from the Chairman, directors, staff and my teammates for all they have done for me in time I’ve been here – I’ve loved every minute of it.

“A huge thanks goes to Gaffer Andy Hessenthaler for bringing me to the club. It was my first step on the coaching ladder and being part of a management team and I’ll be forever grateful to him for giving me that opportunity.

“I have learned so much during my time working with him and his staff. It has been a fantastic experience, but during the months of lockdown I have had time to evaluate my life and what’s best to get the security I need with a young family now  – the teaching role gives me that.

“Last, but certainly not least, to you fans. I can’t thank you enough for welcoming me in to your club.

“You’ve all been fantastic to me since day one and I really do appreciate that.”

All at the club wish Lee the very best as he moves on to his next challenge and thank him for his performances, professionalism and all he has done for the club both on and off the field.

Chairman Jim Parmenter appeared on BBC South East Today on Monday evening to reiterate the situation the club is in due to the COVID-19 pandemic and what is needed to keep the club solvent.

Obviously, not all what the Chairman said made it air, so here is a transcript of what he said.

“We’ve had no income since March 11th at all, we had approximately 25 employees then, that’s down to about 18 now and thank goodness for the government’s furlough scheme because that’s enabled us to keep everybody employed on that, but now the money’s just virtually run out.

“We’ve now got to start doing budgets for next season, we have to put a balanced budget to the league before we start and at the moment our expenditure is not balancing with our income, so we’ve got to find a way of trying to improve that otherwise we can’t trade.

“All avenues are still open, we’re talking to see if we can raise any funds, we’re looking at places we can cut costs but we’ve virtually cut every cost we can and of course our biggest cost is wages by some margin, something like 80 per cent of our costs.

“At the moment we’re not able to negotiate anything there apart from the management team. We’re not able to negotiate with the players a reduction and that is causing us the issue.

“We spent a lot of time explaining to the players and I was quite clear and candid with them we need a 20 per cent reduction of gross salary for a limited time in order that we can move the club forward and balance the books.

“It will still be a challenge even at that and it’s still a risk because we still don’t know when the season’s going to start and we have to start training at the beginning of September, so we will be taking a big financial risk anyway, but we think if the players accept a 20 per cent deduction we can get through.

“A promise of payment is a liability and whilst we can say when things get back to normal of course we’ll move the wages back to normal we can’t say when that will be and we can’t promise it because we just don’t know.

“It’s a great shame, it’s a great sadness because we put together a good group of players and we were really hopeful, but they are available now for free transfer because we have to cut costs and one of the ways we can do that is to move players on to other clubs and employ different players on less money.

“It’s been the culmination of 15 years of blood, sweat and tears and several millions of pounds investment on my part to put the infrastructure in place and to start building the club to football league standard.

“We were four points off the playoffs when it all finished and in a really good position, so it’s really hit us hard. But you know, facts are facts and it’s a limited company – we have to be solvent in order to be able to trade.

“For me and my family, the whole family have been involved for 15 years – I took it out of bankruptcy when we took it over in 2005 and we’ve built it up now to a football league standard club which has been our lives for 15 years and we’ve invested every penny that we can but this challenge is just too much for us financially and we need some help.

“It’s not a particularly attractive investment any football club at this current time so the best thing we can do is try and cut our costs and move forward in that way.

“Apart from the gate money there’s all the catering venues during match day, the bar, we let out rooms for weddings and birthday parties on a regular basis. The Striker Lottery has been closed down, all our income streams have gone away.

“We rely heavily on local sponsorship and they’re all struggling – some of them are out of business but none of them have got spare cash to sponsor a football club at the moment. so it really is quite a dire situation.

“We’re running at about a £1.4 million cost to keep the club going and we’re obviously going to cut that this year but we reckon we’re about a quarter of a million short of where we need to be to balance the books at the moment.

“One of the problem we face is we don’t actually know what sort of crowd we can have yet. They’re talking anything between 15 and 25 per cent of normal capacity but there’s all sorts of restrictions around that.

“The due date to start is the 3rd of October, so currently we don’t know if we will start then and we don’t know what we’ll be allowed to let into the ground.

“We’re obviously going to prioritise season ticket holders, so we’re hoping that we can sell a few (season tickets) to help us and those season ticket holders will get priority for the games but as to how many people come into the ground we just don’t know.

“Given what’s happening in the world now, the signs are that the league may start late October rather than early October.

“Will the club still be here? Well, I’m going to do everything I can do to make sure it is but I need help as I can’t do it on my own.”

Winger Nassim L’Ghoul has left the club after his contract was cancelled by mutual consent.

The Frenchman made the move to Crabble in the summer of 2019 after leaving Welling United.

The 23-year-old scored three goals in 33 appearances in all competitions during his time with us.

We wish him all the best for the future.

Chairman Jim Parmenter has released the following statement.

The Board have been busy assessing the clubs financial position and immediate future due to the very difficult circumstances of the COVID 19 pandemic.

The club is still unsure of its income in the coming season but the Board are clear income will greatly reduced.

The club has 14 players under contract for next season and at a meeting last week the clubs position was explained in detail to the players and staff.

At that meeting the players and staff were asked to accept a 20% short-term reduction in salary to assist the club in its efforts to stay solvent and keep the club alive bearing in mind the club will move from four to three days training.

The management have accepted the proposal, however, unfortunately the players have not agreed.

Therefore it is with great regret that I must announce that all of the squad are now available for free transfer as an initial immediate step.

I must further inform supporters that if a solution or further investment cannot  be found by the end of August it is likely that the Directors will consider the club insolvent and as a consequence will be forced to cease trading.

The directors are doing everything they can to keep the club afloat, but have reached an impasse and require the support of our playing squad.

Season ticket purchases are fully protected and a full refund will be issued if the worse happens, so supporters can continue to purchase in confidence.