More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Scott Lindsey believes there's Football League potential at Chatham.
And he should know having been assistant manager at unfashionable Forest Green when they made it to the big time.
Chats have a long way to go - five promotions - but boss Lindsey is convinced they have what it takes.
“There’s no timescale but it’s something the club want to do,” said Lindsey, who is a year into his work at Maidstone Road.
“You’ve seen clubs in the past go through non-league and do it.
“My previous club, Forest Green, they were ambitious and had the same idea a long time ago and eventually they got there.
“They were a small village club on top of a hill in the Cotswolds with no supporters.
“Chatham’s in a good catchment area to have a very good fanbase, so we’re already in front of where Forest Green were at that level. There’s no reason why it can’t be done.”
Chatham plan to climb the leagues in style.
The Southern Counties East leaders are the top scorers in the country - bagging 60 goals in just 11 league games - and there’s loads of work going on behind the scenes, too.
Lindsey said: “There’s a real identity in how we play, we’ve got a chairman with drive and ambition and the improvements at the stadium are very clear for all to see.
“The dressing rooms are almost as good as any pro club you go to.
"There’s a lot going on off the pitch and we’re playing good attractive football on it.
"Our short-term ambition is to get out of the league we’re in but long-term we want to go through the levels and become a Football League club.
“That may raise a few eyebrows but we have a clean plan of what we want to do.
"We don’t know how long it will take but that’s plan in front of us.”
Gillingham have been Kent’s only Football League club since Maidstone’s three-year stint ended in bankruptcy on the eve of the 1992-93 season.
The closest anyone’s come to joining the Gills were Dover, beaten by Lindsey’s Forest Green in the National League play-off semi-finals in 2016, and Ebbsfleet, who lost to Tranmere at the same stage two years later.
“It would be nice for Kent to have another Football League club,” said Lindsey. “It would be nice for Medway to have two.
“I know we’re talking a few years away but I’ve been involved in a very small club in Forest Green when we made the jump from the Conference to the Football League.
“A few years before that, people were thinking it couldn’t be done. I know it can be done. I’ve seen it happen.”
