For those with long memories, news of a non-league football club in the county having ambitious plans to build a new all-singing, all-dancing stadium is nothing new.

Ebbsfleet United's plans, revealed yesterday, are certainly ambitious. Many, however, will take a 'believe it when I see it approach'. And not without good reason.

Because if there is one sector of the entertainment world where the economics for such expansion are so intrinsically linked with both real-time success and often hopeless ambition, then football is surely it.

Success in one season can lead club owners to start dreaming of getting bigger and better. The problem is the finances involved tend to be in the realms of fantasy for many clubs without the backing of a deep-pocketed benefactor or a fanbase for which no club in the county can, realistically, yet lay claim to.

Failure to maintain that level of on-field success can then see those lofty ambitions deflated quicker than a skewer through a ball.

That's not to say many don't come to fruition – Dartford and Maidstone being prime, shining examples – but for every opening night firework display there are a matching number of damp squibs, which peter out long before the diggers move in.

Or, perhaps more significantly, where the fuse is set but no-one ignites it.

Take Margate for example. For many years they have called Hartsdown Park home. It's perfectly positioned in many ways – on a wide road linking dense residential areas and with plenty of open fields surrounding it.

It is ripe for development and expansion.

And in 2006, plans were put forward to upgrade the facilities and supplement it with the construction of a hotel. Those plans were tweaked in 2011 and, just last year, amended again – this time with the hotel going up in size from 80 rooms to 120.

So far, at least, the loyal fans have seen precious little work begin, although there are some new changing rooms coming ahead of the new season. But it's not quite the same.

Then there's Ashford United – a team which have experienced the highs and lows over the years.

Back when they were known as Ashford Town, the club sold their Essella Park home in Willesborough in 1987 and moved to the wilds of Kingsnorth on the outskirts of the borough.

In 2008, plans were unveiled for an £8.5 million 'sports village' complex which would have seen a swanky new stadium built for the club, replacing the current site, along with a host of other money-making facilities bolted on.

Two years later, Ashford Town went bankrupt without a spade having hit the ground.

Ashford United rose from the ashes and their ambitions, so far at least, have been to build some industrial units on the site. Probably more realistic.

Because while building a multi-thousand seat stadium sounds good, there are two major stumbling blocks for those playing in the lower tiers of the game.

Firstly, the costs of such developments are, almost without exception, going to be in the millions of pounds. Secondly, you need the fans to come in and fill all those seats you've installed.

Sittingbourne FC, after selling the Bull Ground in 1990, reinvested the £4.2m they received from developers and built the sprawling 6,000-capacity Central Park. Its main stand alone had seating for 2,000 people.

But it overspent and was forced to sell the ground back to the council and lease it back. Before long it couldn't even afford to do that. Today it plays at Woodstock Park – a rather less salubrious venue on the outskirts of the town.

However, it is hoping to move into Highsted Park as part of a huge housing development spearheaded by Quinn Estates, details of which are still being debated.

Canterbury City FC continue to dream of one day finding a new home. After leaving their Kingsmead Stadium in 2001 when the club folded, they were reborn in 2007 and have lots of ambitious plans to return in style – albeit modestly.

In 2012, plans for a 1,000-capacity ground were unveiled on land at Ridlands Farm and came to nothing.

Then, in 2017, a developer offered them a site at Hersden. That too fell away. A year later, they were hoping to move onto a development site at Highland Court. But the following year the plans were rejected.

The club are now sharing with Sittingbourne and remain on the hunt for that elusive new pitch.

There are some fine examples of how modest ambition, and a great deal of patience, can deliver results off the pitch. Or, at least, surrounding it.

Maidstone United's fall from grace has been well documented – crashing out of the Football League after some spectacular misjudgements following the sale of their Athletic Ground off the London Road.

Having moved in with Dartford at Watling Street, a move which necessitated plenty of expensive improvements, the Stones collapsed in 1992.

As the phoenix from the ashes rose again – this time at the very foot of the football pyramid – the side led a nomadic existence until, finally, the Gallagher Stadium in James Whatman Way was built in 2012.

And, having proved the 3G pitch model works and enhanced the ground with the 1,763 capacity Genco Stand, there are further plans to expand.

Delayed by the pandemic, options are being considered for more improvements to both the west and south side.

The Gallagher stands as a glowing example of a town centre site which is modest yet with potential should they ever rise into the Football League again.

Dartford had to sell Watling Street after the Maidstone debacle and they, too, were left groundsharing for many years.

But in 2006 the gates opened on the £7.2m Princes Park – a 4,100-capacity venue owned by the council. It transformed the club's fortunes, allowing fans to once again watch their local team in a modern, functional building.

It's not just the non-league clubs who covet bigger and better facilities.

Down the road in Medway, Gillingham chairman Paul Scally will be reading about Ebbsfleet United's ambitious plans remembering his own thwarted ambitions to move out of Priestfield.

Because the club chief has been banging the drum about a move away from the club's historic home since when his non-league neighbours were still known as Gravesend and Northfleet (they switched to Ebbsfleet in 2007 after signing a sponsorship deal with Eurostar which was keen to plug the nearby international station, much to the chagrin of many supporters).

But despite several high-profile campaigns the club remains rooted in its historic surroundings.

Back in 2004, Mr Scally was forced to throw in the towel on plans for a £60m venue at Temple Marsh in Cuxton.

There he wanted to build a 20,000-seater venue which would not only allow the club's supporter base to, hopefully, grow, but also include all the bolt-on year-round revenue generating facilities a modern club needs to keep money flowing in the door in order to help fuel their on-field ambitions.

And certainly, at the time, the Gills were perfect candidates to harbour such ambitions.

Playing in the Championship and with the Premier League tantalisingly close, a move then may well have provided them with the funds to push for glory.

Unable to move to the site due to costs involved in upgrading transport links (it has now been transformed into housing), Paul Scally glumly warned: "There is no alternative but to leave Medway, which we will do, with heavy hearts."

Less than 10 years later and he was whipping up interest in plans for a ground at the former Chatham Docks site. He had earmarked a site in Pier Road for a possible replacement for the 11,000-capacity Priestfield.

However, plans to turn the site into housing and other facilities got the nod instead.

He'd warned before the final decision: "If [the opposing planning application] is successful then in its current form almost certainly that will be the end of Gillingham Football Club in Medway."

Ten years later and the club continue at Priestfield. Their days of being within one stellar league campaign from the riches of the Premier League long since gone. They start the new season in League Two. Closer, ironically, to falling into the non-league tiers than the Premier League.

And what's happened with the Gills (or rather what's not happened) is a perfect example of that equation of ambition and current success not being something to rely on.

When the Gills were in the Championship they were pulling in crowds of close to 9,000. Still short of its capacity but almost double the 5,000 average they achieved last season.

Which is why Ebbsfleet United's ambitious plans for an 8,000-capacity venue will also raise some eyebrows. Last season, they pulled it an average of 1,500 fans.

But, as Kevin Costner's character in Field of Dreams is frequently misquoted as saying, 'build it and they will come' may just yet prove accurate.