Can Dover Athletic stay up this season
06.07.2021
‘I’ve had challenges in my footballing life but this will probably be the biggest one,’ in the words of Dover Athletic’s manager Andy Hessenthaler. COVID restrictions and funding distribution disputes hit National League clubs hard since the pandemic struck, and none more so than Dover’s Lilywhites. Financial hardships forced Dover chairman Jim Parmenter to furlough staff on and off the pitch, including Hassenthaler, as the National League season kicked on behind closed doors.
Dover failed to field teams for any league matches beyond September last year. After voting in a failed attempt to null and void the season, the National League board imposed strict sanctions on Dover for lapsing their fixtures. A total of 17 clubs up and down the National Leagues North and South faced points deductions and fines, but Dover fared the worst by far. The club faces a £40,000 fine, a voided season, and a suspended 12-points deduction beginning in 21/22.
The Lilywhites begin their campaign with a slashed budget and a 12 point handicap, but Hessenthaler asserted that the club pledge to compete fiercely to avoid relegation. The manager expounded that ‘away games will be hostile because most teams, managers and fans think we should have been kicked out of the league’. Facing a relegation battle before the first kick of the season, Hessenthaler and his squad are determined to stay up. ‘Nobody thinks we can do that’, the manager admitted; ‘we do- but most people outside the football club don’t’.
Hessenthaler compared Dover’s plight to that of the Biblical David and Goliath, and the club look to strengthen their chances by maintaining a competitive squad. They recently acquired the solid Millwall academy product Jake Goodman to strengthen their back lines. The 27-year-old defender earned experience across the EFL and several top-tier National League clubs, steadying ships, shoring up defences, and even chipping in with goal threats: Goodman scored in every season since 2013.
Dover fans have also stepped up to support their club in what the Lilywhites call their ‘hour of need’. A JustGiving page has already raised over £8,300, and fans snapped up a commemorative Supporters Shirt incorporating fan names into the design. As Hassenthaler says, the season ahead presents ‘a really exciting challenge’, in which, besides staying up, Dover’s main objective in the face of adversity is to ‘go out there and shut people up’.
Despite their obstacles, Dover’s 21/22 campaign looks primed to become the underdog story of the season.
