Chichester City v Dartford Sat 18 Apr 2026

[DartfordHero]

For the last 10 years I have bought a season ticket but like a lot of other regular fans I am seriously
Thinking about not bothering to get one for the next campaign

I think this could very well be a reason as to why there will be no announcement on the manager position until at least new season ticket prices/sales have started. I myself am not willing to buy a new season ticket until I know who the manager will be so why would they announce it now or in the coming few weeks that Ady will be staying

[Skip]

Next season Dartford will be competing against two new teams with very deep pockets, Eastbourne and Maldon & Tiptree, on the back of two conflicting campaigns. Eastbourne spaffing cash on a full time model that they made a complete mess of and Maldon only just pipping Felixstowe for the Isthmian North title despite having a budget enabling them to pay their manager £75k, Freddie Sears £60k, their keeper £50k plus the remaining squad members all on a very decent wedge. Steve King, with his Yellow Pages sized contact book and a full close season to reinvigorate their squad will almost certainly have Eastbourne hammering on the title door. Ex Man City, Kevin Horlock, will be expected to compete for top spot, too, by Maldon’s publicity obsessed owner. Maldon won the Isthmian North title because of an almost perfect home record. Away from home they got found out a few times. I think the board will need quite a few more DJ days on the pitch to provide a significant increase in Ady’s promotion push fund…

[Lars Resort]

I think skip that Eastbourne would be dropping into the Southern League maybe? I could be wrong.

[WillDfc42]

https://dartfordfc.com/2026/04/im-bitte ... off-place/

Uh oh more talk of the B word…


A host of disallowed goals at Chichester put an end to the team’s battle for a play-off place on Saturday.

The side had closed the gap on the teams above over recent weeks after a brilliant run, but ultimately it was a case of finding the right form, too late.

As Ady Pennock reflected on the game and the season – he said there were still many positives to take away.

He said: “I’m bitterly disappointed. I haven’t seen the game back yet, but there were five disallowed goals, all from the same linesman. I felt at least three were onside. The tackle on Olly was disgusting as well and should have been a red.

“We started slowly, but after 15 minutes we ran the game. We then lost Olly and Dan through injury, but we had the chances. You’ve got to say the offside decisions and not finishing our chances killed us in the end. There was also a blatant penalty turned down.

“We’ve been great over the past 10 games and finished the season so strongly as one of the most inform teams. But we can’t blame one match. We should have finished in the play-off places and should have already been up there.”

Injuries? Red cards? Conceding late goals? What does Ady consider the areas that have hampered the season most?

He continued: “I thought at least half of our sending offs at the beginning of the season were through poor decisions from the officials. You can say we had a discipline problem, but so many yellows were given for innocuous challenges. It’s funny we are talking about the officials again at the end of the season, it’s come full circle.

“It’s hard not to wonder why we seemed to be on the end of so many bad decisions.

“Away from that, our form at the beginning of the season wasn’t good enough. We had a hangover from losing out in the play-off final. We then had to play a host of games with nine or 10 men, had injuries to Dan Smith, Samir, Eddie, and the Sams, to name a few.

“These aren’t excuses, it’s just the reality of the situation.

“Then we look at our form. The home form is one of the best in the division, but our away form hasn’t been good enough.”

With almost double the points taken at home than away, why does Ady think it has been so difficult replicate their form away from home?

He continued: “There are some good teams there, but we have lost games to lower teams we should not have been losing. I feel we missed someone like Samir a lot, someone who knows how to close out a game would have helped us turn some of those draws into wins, or losses into draws or wins. It’s a big loss – he’s been hard to replace.

“We’ve conceded some silly last minute goals, which we should be defending better and being more savvy.

“We’ve had a tendency to sit back when we are winning by the odd goal, and I’m wanting the boys to be braver and keep pushing. The longer you sit back, you are just inviting pressure.”

With one of the youngest squads in the league, Ady has put a team together that can continue to grow in strength and confidence.

He said: “People forget just how young our squad is. We have some excellent younger players learning the game. Will they make mistakes? Yes. But we know we don’t have the budget of many of the top half of the league, so we have to blend youth with experience.

“The club is trying new things which will help the finances which in my opinion are great. It’s new and fresh. The supporters need to get behind the club and support some of the new ideas. If you got half the supporters down to the music event for instance, on top of all the new people that will be coming to the ground, it will make a massive difference and paves the way for the club to keep trying new things.”

Ady saved the last words for the supporters, who have continued to support the team through thick and thin.

He continued: “I feel for the supporters. We all wanted to be up there with the chance of promotion. I felt if we got into the play-off places, we’d have a great chance of going up, with our form. No one would have wanted to play us.

“The support has been brilliant, home and away. Hopefully they can see what we have tried to do here. I’ve had to rebuild the squad from scratch and bring in players that will always give 100 per cent. I think you can see my teams have passion. They want to be here and play for the badge.

“I hope the supporters will come along to the Cray game and clap the boys off after a season that saw us just miss out on a play-off place. We were in the play-off final last season and just missed out this season. I think the boys deserve to be applauded. They’ll come back stronger and wiser next season and hungry to go again.”

[Ajaxman DFC]

For the last 10 years I have bought a season ticket but like a lot of other regular fans I am seriously
Thinking about not bothering to get one for the next campaign

I think this could very well be a reason as to why there will be no announcement on the manager position until at least new season ticket prices/sales have started. I myself am not willing to buy a new season ticket until I know who the manager will be so why would they announce it now or in the coming few weeks that Ady will be staying

While not necessarily my personal choice, if I put money on this it will be on Pennock staying on as manager next season.

[Pink Panther]

I think skip that Eastbourne would be dropping into the Southern League maybe? I could be wrong.

Eastbourne is further east than Burgess Hill, Whitehawk and Lewes. They'll definitely be in the Isthmian.

We'll also get Enfield Town, Three Bridges and whoever wins the D1SE play-off (Croydon Athletic, Whyteleafe, Jersey, Sittingbourne), Maldon & Tiptree from D1N and possibly Leatherhead from D1SC, depending on who wins the D1N play-off.

[Skip]

I think skip that Eastbourne would be dropping into the Southern League maybe? I could be wrong.

Possibly, LR, but the last unofficial lineup showed them in the IL Premier. Would be handy if they were diverted elsewhere, of course

[Park Life]

I think we should look for an outside investor to come in and help run the club and have done so for a while. I brought it up at the last AGM (that went down well....)
Sure it doesn't guarantee success but it would improve your chances.

As for the b word....
I'm sick to death of hearing managers bringing it up and using it as an excuse. I dont recall Kingy ever publicly moaning about the budget and he assembled one of the best squads we've ever had with some quality players regularly competing for promotion to the NL. So it's possible.....

It must be discussed at interview and if the manager doesn't think he can put together a side to compete don't take the bloody job. The best players don't always make the best side so use your contact book, stop moaning and get on with it. To allow this constant moaning is imo harming the club and sending out a really negative message. The board should grow some and bloody stop it.

Reading Adys last interview I sense he will be here next season but from what im hearing, it could be another total rebuilding job........

Annoyed?? Yes i bloody am.
But i WILL be renewing my season ticket and be there supporting every week because it's still MY team.

[Sleightly Deceptive]

If Pennock stays, it’s the biggest signal of negativity even before the season starts! He’s simply NOT GOOD ENOUGH. JFC - WAKE UP!

[ozymandias]

May I suggest that if you don't buy a season ticket because you don't believe in the set-up/manager but you still refer to DFC as your club, then take up sponsorship of a player.
I have done this for 10+ years because of work/travel to games/cherry picking my games (which started with the rule of Dowson, total waste of space).
I love the club and it's my way of supporting it. I don't have an opinion on who would make a good manager at this time but I seem to remember I had a good opinion of SK but was quickly put down with that.
I do think there will be an exodus of players this summer and if Ade is still here he has my full backing. But I do think he is up against it. He either has a thick skin or is totally unaware of what goes on on here.
Roland Edge also talks sense with me but if Ade goes I feel he would go also.
It could be a turbulent time during the Summer.
Have a good one, and see you next season. Whatever happens.
COYD's

[Kermo18]

The big elephant in the room regarding budget is that we still pay TB as one of only 2 full time employees at the club which takes a massive chunk of budget away from management recruitment (Ady we could only afford to pay part time) and player budget.

When we were in the national they made TB a full time employee of the club which made sense in that situation. If I remember rightly back then we were paying him 50k a year to manage the club, if he is still on that or there abouts that’s a hell of a lot of money we aren’t using on the squad or management team.

The reason TB is still a full time employee is in my eyes another reminder of the “boys club” mentality within the board bcus nobody would ever tell there mate in the boys club he needs to lose his salary when he came away from the 1st team management.

Might be wrong but with how the club has been run over the past 10 years It still feels like a boys club mentality and everyone is just too nice to each other at board level.

I think you may find that TB is paid via the academy side of the football club and not directly effecting the playing side of the budget, you may want to confirm this with the club.

Talking of the academy....I heard because the men's have not been promoted the 2 year limit is now over and the academy will be relegated aswell !

Also heard this over the weekend. Ben does an amazing job with the academy, this will only make it harder to attract decent young players to the club.

[KentC]

I’ve said before but I don’t believe this trope that the board are happy staying in this league. Making up a five year plan just to hide what they really want? Give it a rest.

If they really do want to take the men’s team full time, that requires saving on the playing budget for several seasons so they can actually transition properly.

Don’t get me wrong: small budget or not, this season has been a failure. But I won’t be surprised to see Ade in the dugout next season. I have a feeling that the board thinks he’s our guy to lead the transition to full-time if/when it happens. Could be wrong though

We’re going nowhere and they don’t give a monkeys , they have their boys club, they won’t allow anyone in, why? They will have to show ambition but they have none.

[Park Life]

May I suggest that if you don't buy a season ticket because you don't believe in the set-up/manager but you still refer to DFC as your club, then take up sponsorship of a player.


Roland Edge also talks sense with me but if Ade goes I feel he would go also.

COYD's

A few of us sponsor a player and hopefully will do the same one next season but i'm not 100% sure

A couple of my favourite Roland comments:-

"i've been involved in this league for about 30 years"
"Callum sometimes finds himself in the wrong position because he runs around a lot"

Give them some thought