Greene intent on riding out storm (06.05.05)

DEFEAT in their final game of the season sentenced Maidenhead United to relegation from Conference South on Saturday.
After the game, manager Dennis Greene took heavy personal criticism from one particularly vocal group of supporters, who blamed him for Maidenhead United’s downfall and wanted him sacked
Greene admitted he was partly responsible, saying: “I had to keep us up and I haven’t achieved that.
“We had a chance. We got into the position to do it, but we didn’t quite get over the line.”
But to be fair to Greene, his record since joining the club in December has been pretty good, with only eight defeats in 21 league games.
Greene said: “The reaction from certain supporters has been very disappointing. If only they would check their stats. But I’m definitely staying.
“I’m not going to let a couple of the supporters hound me out.”
He also appealed to the fans to consider events behind the scenes, adding: “There are so many factors people don’t take into consideration.
“In that last game Craig O’Connor was playing with a knock, Andre Fashanu was injured, Ben (Townsend) was playing with a shoulder injury and Smudger (Bryan Smith) had his ribs strapped up. We had no one else.
“We were really up against it.”
Club chairman Jon Swan also spoke out in defence of Greene, saying: “I’m sticking with Dennis.
“People have to understand we’re in this together, and I’m very annoyed with the behaviour of a very few people.
“We hired a manager and he was unpopular with a small minority because he came from Windsor & Eton. He was hired to do a job and that was to get us safe.
“Forty-six points should have been enough to do that. Who would have expected we would need to get 49. You wouldn’t have been relegated with 46 points from any other table I have looked at.
“And looking at Dennis’ record since he joined us, we would have finished 13th or 14th if he had started the season here.
“The criticism has to stop.
“We need our supporters, but you can’t run a club by referendum.”
Compounding Greene’s misery is his certain belief that his side was good enough to beat the drop.
He explained: “With the team we have we could have been a strong midtable side next season, and maybe gone for the play-offs.
“Now we have to get out of the league below. It’s really tough to take.”
Luck has certainly played its part in United’s downfall, particularly on Saturday, when all the results which might have helped Greene went against him.
If promotion hopefuls Eastbourne Borough had beaten relegation-threatened Carshalton Athletic, United would have been safe.
Greene said: “I thought East-bourne were our safety net. I spoke to their manager before the game and he said he was picking a full-strength side.
“After the game he said ‘Sorry Dennis, we gave it everything’.”
Swan also cursed the Magpies’ luck, but refused to be too depressed about the game, or relegation, saying: “You have to be philosophical about it. It’s happened and we just have to deal with it.
“If you’re involved with football you have to deal with the ups and the downs. Otherwise you shouldn’t be in the game.
“We got into this league when we didn’t expect to. We were starting from scratch when Alan Devonshire left, and John Dreyer was asked just to keep us up. The next thing I know we’re in the Conference South.
“But we only scraped in and we were always going to be relegation favourites.
“We knew we were in for a tough ride. But if you look at a lot of our defeats it was just the odd lapse in defence. The sad reality is that against the top teams – Cambridge, Thurrock, Lewes, Eastbourne and Basingstoke – we did pretty well.”
Swan was also keen to look forward rather than back, although no one knows where forward is, as it is still not clear which league United will be demoted into.
Swan said: “We won’t know until May 15 at the earliest, but we believe it’s going to be the Southern League.
“The people involved with the club are rallying around and making sure we pick ourselves up and move towards a successful season next season.”
But all is not yet lost.
In early April, at the High Court Of Justice in London, a petition was made to wind up Hornchurch football club, which resulted in a moratorium to protect the club from any further legal actions.
During the moratorium period, the club has been ordered to settle its outstanding financial obligations to the satisfaction of its majority of creditors.
The rumour is, however, that the authorities are playing hard-ball with the club, and if they go bust, United may replace them back in Conference South.

DEFEAT STINKS: Maidenhead United manager Dennis Greene was left cursing his luck in Wales on Saturday, as results across the country went against him.