Billericay Town's new owners are reassuring fans that the National League South club is in safe hands.
Businessmen Greg Lake, David McCartney, Alex Morrissey and Nick Hutt moved to reassure fans on Thursday after taking control of the National League South's Blues last week following the decision of former owner Glenn Tamplin to walk away in October.
Lake – who was already heavily involved with the club's women teams – told the Basildon Standard he's looking forward to working with the other members of the consortium despite having never met them before getting together to strike a deal.
In his first interview since the takeover, Lake said: “David has been involved in a club in Ireland – St James' Swifts – but the rest of us haven't so this is all new to us. We weren't looking to get involved until Glenn walked away.
“David then contacted me and Nick, from the colts' perspective, to see what we could do to make sure this club keeps going. We decided to come together and form a consortium because we all have the same ambitions, but we had never met each other before that time.
“Thankfully, we all get on very well and built a relationship quickly. We all want to make Billericay Town a community club which is stable and get the local people involved.
“It made sense to form a consortium and I'm really pleased we have done it. But it's important to remember that we are merely custodians of the club. This club has been here a long time before us and it will be here a long time after we leave.”
Lake, who's also hailed Jamie O'Hara for taking on the player-manager job in testing times following the departure of Harry Wheeler, insists the priority is bringing some sustainability and order to New Lodge.
He added: “Success, for me, would be making Billericay Town a sustainable community club. Before we took over the club, there were uncertain times but the club and fanbase owe Glenn a great deal of gratitude.
“Now it's time to make the club stable and also make sure we live within our means. We need to make sure that Jamie O'Hara has what he needs to make us a competitive side.
“I was shocked to find out that there are more than 40 clubs playing under the Billericay Town name and we want all of those teams to be under the same umbrella.
“In the long-term, we want to build a pathway between the youth teams and the first team. We want to have an U18 and U23 team in place to allow players to have that pathway.
“At the moment, our youth teams end at under-16 level and that's a big gap to bridge if they want to get into a National League South side.”
