SHEPPEY United boss Ernie Batten is a manager in a million – or at least half of one!
Local businessman Batten and his wife Liz have funded the £500,000 cost of installing a 3G pitch at the Southern Counties East Premier Division club's Holm Park ground.
Batten, who is involved in property and runs a care home business, is a shareholder of the club. He said: “This island has been good to me over the years and I feel very privileged to be able to put something back into the local community.
“Our grass pitch has been one of the best in the south of England over the past five years, but we are now ripping it up, because we can use a 3G pitch seven days a week.”
Batten, 63, who was with Charlton Athletic as a teenager and later played for Hastings United, Chelmsford City and Gravesend & Northfleet, said the 3G facility will enable Sheppey to introduce a scholarship programme.
