Herne Bay say ‘relegation looks inevitable’

As Guernsey FC slid further into trouble by losing at Ashford on Saturday while Greenwich Borough picked up a vital win over Sittingbourne, unbeknown to both those clubs, the directors of Herne Bay, who sit just ahead of them, were questioning whether they would keep their own club alive.

Just before Herne Bay’s victory over Whyteleafe, the club confirmed the departure of managers John Embery and Jermaine Darlington, and questioned whether the club will have a team next week, or whether there will even be a club next season.

Blaming ‘social media trolls’, the Herne Bay directors added that ‘relegation to the SCEFL looks inevitable’.

In a directors’ statement, the Herne bosses claim that the management team have been hounded out of the club.

‘Whether we will have a team to field next Saturday is in the lap of the footballing gods. Relegation back to the SCEFL looks to be inevitable.’

More worrying for Herne Bay fans, the statement added: ‘Whether there will be a club next season is unclear. The board have put in so much effort over the years but the past two weeks has become so demoralising.

‘These keyboard warriors who hide behind false titles post what they like without knowing the full facts, criticising the board and their decisions, and it is these individuals who have destroyed this football club.’

The departures of Embery and Darlington came just days after Embery defended key members of Herne Bay’s board of directors.

At the end of February, Herne Bay revealed that the decision to free star striker Jake Embery from his contract was driven by financial necessity. The striker then moved to join Maidstone.

For all that doom and gloom talk in the Kent coastal town, it still seems unbelievable that a club that has been in existence for 133 years would fold after escaping relegation.

So Guernsey FC fans should not get too excited yet and get behind the side like never before when Whyteleafe come to Footes Lane this Saturday.