Devonshire: Show me the money and I'll bring promotion

10:46am Thursday 4th June 2009

By Stuart Amos

Hampton & Richmond Borough boss Alan Devonshire reckons if the club’s hierarchy can find him the cash, he will deliver Blue Square South promotion.

The Beavers welcomed former FA chief executive Brian Barwick as a director this week, creating what chairman Steve McPherson described as ‘the strongest board in the division’.

The St Margrets-based ex-BBC and ITV man has not revealed whether he will be dipping into his own pocket to boost Devonshire’s transfer kitty.

But both he and Devonshire hope his arrival can help unlock the door to a rich vein of revenue to take the club to the next level.

Hampton overcame a slow start to the season because of key injuries, before suffering play-off heartache for the second successive campaign following a 3-2 defeat to Hayes & Yeading - a game watched by Barwick.

And Devonshire, who is mindful of cash-rich Woking, Dover Athletic and Staines Town in the league this season, reckons that with a little more financial clout he has the track record to make it third time lucky.

“If you’d said three years ago that we’d win the Ryman League and get to the Blue Square South play-off final twice, I’d have said you were joking. To do it a third time is going to be hard,” he said.

“The teams coming down and those coming up have massive budgets and those with the most money normally fill the top five or six places.

“Yes, I’d like a bit more money. An extra £500 a week would be great and would help get an extra couple of players in.

“If I had the budget some other teams have had in the last two years I know I could take this club to the next level.”

Barwick famously appointed current England boss Fabio Capello before leaving Soho Square and accepts his role now is to give Devonshire the means to build on the last three seasons of success.

“I’m pretty well connected in football and in the commercial world. I think it is inconceivable that I wouldn’t be of some use,” he added.

“We’ve got to give Dev every opportunity to get as strong a squad as he can and get as many people to watch us as we can.

“What Alan has done is quite remarkable. Our job is to support him and make sure he gets the right opportunities to keep the momentum going.

And Devonshire, who is hunting at least three new faces this summer, believes the fact his side are no longer an unknown entity will be difficult to overcome without some remedial work.

“Teams may have been thinking we were a one season wonder last year, but they are going to respect us more,” he said.

“It is going to be difficult, but we’ve got the play-off final twice already and there is no reason why we can’t be in the mix again.”