Last season’s title triumph has been a long time coming for Taunton Town chairman Kevin Sturmey. RICHARD BROWNE looks back to 2010, when Sturmey took the reins, and follows the club’s journey through relegation battles and that FA Cup run to the present day...

THE 2017/18 season for Taunton Town, coming off a historic FA Cup run the year before, was quite simply incredible.

Unbeaten away from home all season and league champions by 19 points, it’s a far cry from July 2010, when Kevin Sturmey became chairman of the club.

In April 2009, manager Ian Jones had stepped down with four games left of their relegation battle, and their status as a Southern League club hinged on a Winchester City points deduction.

The 2009-10 campaign wasn’t much better, the Peacocks finishing 18th (fifth from bottom), and they ended up ninth, 17th, 18th and eighth in the next four seasons.

On becoming chairman, the County Gazette reported Sturmey as saying: “I will now do everything I can to take this club forward and surround myself with equally passionate people who want to build a sustainable club which the town will support and be proud of.”

When I put that quote to Sturmey last week, he replied: “I can’t remember saying that, but it’s the kind of thing I would have done – to do some tub-thumping.

“I think in July 2010 we didn’t realise how much trouble the club was in, so I might have put a little caveat with that, saying ‘please stick with us, as we need patience’.

“We’ve been patient, we’ve gone through lots of turmoil, and now I think we’re starting to get to where this club should be, in my opinion.”

For all the hard work and dedication of those who came before, Sturmey and his team have taken the club on to a new level.

A major part of that is the pitch, on which Sturmey had broken his arm as a youth player.

He said: “They used to use builder’s sand and roll it, which is totally the reverse of what you should do, unless it’s a cricket wicket.

“So it’s not surprising that it was rock hard to play on and dried out very quickly.

“It was basically a concrete block; I played on it quite a lot, and broke my arm in an Under-17 cup final, just by landing on it.”

So how did Sturmey and his team turn it around?

“You need the equipment for a start – you can’t have a good pitch without a mower, and there was no mower here when we first got back involved, in 2009.

“And you need a never-say-die attitude with the pitch; it’s no different to the rest of the club, in that it needs nurturing.

“We haven’t got pop-up sprinklers, we haven’t got fancy gadgets that I could programme while sat at home, so it’s quite labour-intensive.

“It’s about constant hard work, and also getting good contractors in to do the work that we haven’t got the equipment to do, like verti-draining and spraying the pitch.

“You have to get the right people in, and also not be afraid to do something different.”

Attendances have grown, too, as a decade ago the club were hoping for crowds of 300 – and last season saw them top 600 for many league games.

Sturmey believes the key to that is being all-inclusive and making people feel comfortable at the Viridor Stadium.

He said: “Winning papers over cracks, but I think if people come here and enjoy it, and feel comfortable, regardless of who they are, that’s important.

“Parents want their children to be safe, and we have a little area for kids to have a kickabout.

“That’s one thing in the past where families maybe weren’t comfortable bringing children because of the language.

“It can be fruity at whatever sport; you try to keep a lid on it but sometimes passion spills out.

“Sometimes I want to lambast someone, who’s maybe in the middle with a whistle, but you try to keep it in check.”

Somerset County Gazette:

GROWTH: A crowd of all ages at the Viridor Stadium. Pic: Steve Richardson

Winning games helps generate a good feeling at the club and swell the crowds – but the 2016/17 FA Cup run (reaching the first round proper for only the second time in the club’s history) did even more.

“The FA Cup gets the credence and exposure that Southern League tier four doesn’t,” Sturmey said.

“The cup run probably did more for us than any 10 leagues could, because although we’ve had an incredibly successful season [in 2017/18] I don’t think we’ve had the plaudits that we perhaps should have had.

“The FA Cup allowed us to sell out [2,300 attendance] when our usual crowd was 600 or so, which shows how hard we have to keep working.

“I think [the cup] opens up the opportunity to add more fans; some people will have come along during the cup run and then became regular supporters.

“So we’re picking up new season ticket holders each season.

“The business and residential communities are buying into what we’re trying to achieve.

“Some people who maybe weren’t massive football fans may see what we’re trying to build, and they want to be part of success and the vision for where we could be.

“I’m never satisfied. Whatever we reach, I want to go for a little bit more.”

Naturally, as well as more supporters and interest from sponsors, the FA Cup brings in the lifeblood of any football club: hard cash.

Sturmey added: “FA Cups are great and the finances brought in are fantastic.

“It allowed us to get on a pretty much even keel, but then every year you haven’t got an FA Cup run you’re hand to mouth.

“Every football club is in the mire, it’s just about the depth of the mire.

“In an ideal world you’d have the money in the bank for your playing budget, but that’s not how it works.

“I’ve been asked in the past ‘if we go up, have we got the money?’ “The answer is no, we don’t have the money, we’re a business which has cash flow and sometimes cash is going out faster than it’s coming in.

“When you have winters like we’ve had this season, it kills your cash flow, as [money on the gate] is a major source of income.”

With all that in mind, I asked Sturmey whether he thought that now was the right time for Taunton Town to go up and challenge in the Southern League’s Premier Division South.

He said: “In 2017 we wanted to go up, and we would have gone up if we’d had the opportunity, but maybe it just wasn’t our time – that season was our FA Cup time, and this season was our time to go up.

“Travel-wise it will be quite an increase next season, but last season I think Tiverton had to go to King’s Lynn on a Tuesday night, which is horrendous.

“For part-time players that’s almost impinging on three days.

“When we went to Barrow [for the FA Cup first round replay] the euphoria of the cup run glossed over it a little bit, but we had one player asleep on the way back because he had to be up the next morning to go into school and teach.

“Now is the right time for us to go up.

“No-one would have sacrificed the FA Cup run, and I think if you were writing a book, the two chapters [cup run and promotion] would follow on from each other.”

Clearly, all of this is only possible when Sturmey and his fellow board members work well with the coaching and playing staff.

He said: “I think the biggest thing is that the club has dovetailed on and off the pitch.

“Leigh [Robinson, manager] has been here since 2012. The first season was tough, and I think we used about 60 players.”

Since then Taunton have gone from strength to strength, with Michael Meaker joining as assistant manager in 2015, and the Peacocks reaching the playoffs in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Sturmey said of the management team: “Leigh, Meaks, Rob [Dray, first team coach], Dave Lukins [physio] and Eddie [Paul Edwards, goalkeeping coach] are all different characters with different qualities.

“Leigh is probably one of the quietest managers that you’ll ever see, but he’s absolutely ruthless when it comes to making decisions – and that’s what a winner does.

“He’s a really nice guy and we get on well, we have a great understanding and mutual respect.

“We don’t have to speak every day, but he knows what his job is and I know mine, and I think we complement each other well.”

Of course, it’s not just the management who have worked hard – there’s been plenty of dedication from the players, too.

Sturmey added: “I understand the sacrifices that the players and management have to make, to stay fit themselves, and those with partners and young kids have to make massive sacrifices.

“They don’t see them a lot, as through the football season it’s work, football, work, football, work and only a little bit of family time.

“So it was great when we won the league and we had the presentation, we had the families come and enjoy it.

“The guys can’t do it without the support of partners and family.”

Somerset County Gazette:

SHIELD: Taunton Town celebrate the league title. Pic: Steve Richardson

Gradually the quality of players in the team has gone up, with a cohort of ex-Truro City players joining a core of local talent, like Ollie Chamberlain, Lloyd and Owen Irish, and Brett Trowbridge.

“The playing budget is a big factor, and each year I think we’ve increased that budget,” Sturmey said.

“The more you can pay, the better quality of players you can get.

“But it’s not just about paying the players, it’s about them buying into what we’re trying to achieve.

“What we’ve noticed in the last three years, is that Leigh doesn’t have to go out and convince people to join Taunton.

“Players already know, because the players sell it for us, as a lot of them have played together over the years.

“That makes Leigh’s job a bit easier, and it’s just down to agreeing terms.

“Naturally there’s a market and everyone wants to earn as much as they can.

“But I don’t think that’s the key here; I think players want to sign for the club and they want success.

“So many players go through their career without winning a league or cup.

“If you look at Lloyd [Irish], he’s now starting to win things and it’s great that he’s doing that here.

“And he said he thinks he could play for another 10 years!”

The squad assembled by Robinson is fiercely competitive and is playing effective football with a dash of flair thrown in.

Sturmey said: “No-one wants to miss a game and we now have such a competitive squad, with players who can play in different positions, which is the modern way.

“The experience we have with the players we’ve signed, in terms of game management, it’s so important.

“I think Ryan Brett got better and better for us, and you saw his experience of playing 150 National League games coming through.

“[Matt Wright] is just a winner, he drives the club on and was an inspired choice as captain by Leigh, while Shane [White] could play anywhere and in any sport – he’s just so consistently good.

“We want to see players playing football, and I think the fans have bought into that.

“Some fans have been here for years, and they’ve said it’s the best team and best football they’ve seen.”

See next week's County Gazette for a look ahead to Taunton Town's future prospects