As Sheppey United prepare to host League 2 Walsall in the FA Cup tonight to end their more than century-long struggle to reach the competition’s first round, former KM journalist Andy Gray reveals how ‘the Ites’ inspired his love of football at grassroots level.

Halley’s Comet’s got nothing on Sheppey. Space’s most celebrated cosmic snowball appears in Earth’s vicinity once every 75 years.

Prior to their final qualifying round win over Billericay last month, Sheppey had racked up 104 failed attempts to reach the FA Cup’s first round stage over a 131-year period.

At that rate, the Ites aren’t due to appear in the first round ‘proper’ again until the year 2154, emphasising this season’s monumental achievement.

Although an Islander, it took until 2014 for my association with Sheppey United to begin, when my sister and Ites’ committee member, Liz Batten, persuaded me to try out as the club’s stadium announcer.

Sheppey were taking their first tentative steps as a born-again club in a brand-new home. The ground, soon to be named Holm Park, was in a similarly embryonic state.

It featured a roped-off pitch that was more mud than grass, thus way short of facilitating football at its most beautiful. To say support was thin on the ground during this era was an understatement.

If during my behind-the-mic debut I’d been asked to announce each fan by name and include their life stories and that of their pets, neighbours and forebears, I could’ve concluded the whole segment during the half-time interval.

I carried out the announcer engagement on the strict proviso it was a one-off family favour.

Having been a Wolverhampton Wanderers fan from primary school age, I had no time for non-league football’s small-time ways and strange-looking disciples.

I suppose my aversion to the amateur game was triggered by infrequent visits to Sheppey’s original home, Botany Road, just as the club and ground entered terminal decay – they eventually folded in 2001.

The Ites had enjoyed something of a heyday in the 1970s when Kent League titles were secured, and four-figure attendances – as well as epic off-pitch battles – were a done deal when local rivals Sittingbourne came to town.

But by the late 1980s, when I had reached drinking age, Botany Road’s clubhouse was the sole reason to visit the ground’s dismal, dilapidating environs on a Saturday afternoon, as it was the only venue in town legally allowed to serve booze post the then 3pm licensing curfew.

New beginnings

If I were to pinpoint a moment the tide turned in respect of my football-supporting loyalties, it was on an otherwise forgettable night in August 2015.

Sheppey were thrashed 4-1 at home by Gravesham Borough but off-pitch, the club was rapidly giving notice of its long-term ambition.

Ground improvements included a new seated stand, floodlights, perimeter fencing and pristine dressing rooms. I believe it was also around this time that Sheppey’s Lenny the Lion, the flag-waving mascot formerly known as Terry the Tiger, first bared his claws.

With a new outside tea bar also onboarded, these relatively small improvements spoke of a greater vision.

It sent an impression to hardline cynics like me, that not only was Holm Park a significant upgrade on Botany Road, it suggested that Sheppey 2.0 might become a ‘project’ worth getting behind, a developing story that would one day earn the Island more cache than its association with Micheal Crawford, Rod Hull and a three-pronged prison cluster.

I wasn’t the only one who felt the stirrings of something special that August night (n.b; I’d succumbed to being Sheppey’s regular stadium announcer by this time).

As he watched fans wend their way to Holm Park’s entrance in slighter greater-than-usual number, Sheppey’s then chairman Matt Smith declared loudly and proudly from his boardroom: “Build it and they shall come.” That night’s attendance? 85. But ‘come’ they subsequently did.

By the end of that same season, more than 700 fans would be piling through the gates to witness Sheppey win promotion to the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division.

It was as part of a double-winning campaign that saw the Ites lift the Kent Senior Trophy in front of 500 travelling ‘Swampies’ at Maidstone’s Gallagher Stadium.

They say nothing beats the first time, and following Sheppey during those triumphant early days glows warm in the memory.

Away trips to clubs that sounded more like finance or building firms - i.e; AC London, Meridian VP, Bridon Ropes, APM Contrast - were a feature back then. At venues such as these, we were the crowd, generally outnumbering home fans 50-to-none.

But life on the road during ‘the double’ campaign wasn’t all garlands and glamour. Take our late-season trip to south east London to play Forest Hill Park.

Our support for that game numbered about 12 on what was a surprisingly sultry evening, conditions that would ordinarily be described as pleasant.

But as our diehard dozen watched the game from a distance requiring binoculars due to the presence of a running track, our position near a bush-lined railway perimeter meant we were a 90-minute (plus stoppages) feast for swarms of mosquitos.

Did moments like this make me yearn for the spectator comforts I’d still be enjoying had I continued to follow Wolves as they established themselves as a Premier League club? Nah.

A glossy programme and plentiful toilet facilities were nothing compared to the camaraderie and craic that bookmarked our local team’s soaraway second coming.

Besides, money through the turnstiles means little to England’s elite clubs. Whereas the ability to attract paying fans is a life-or-death issue for Sheppey and their ilk.

Continued success

My permanent transitioning away from big-time football has been smoothed by Sheppey’s increasing success.

Since 2016, Ites manager Ernie Batten, a Sheppey playing legend and the club’s owner, has overseen a second promotion – to the Isthmian League, South East – and a further three domestic cup wins.

In that time, Holm Park has hosted three attendances of more than 1,000, with another one guaranteed tonight against Walsall.

Which brings us to Sheppey’s Great FA Cup run of 2023. Of the many highlights, I declare our 500-mile round trip to play Merthyr Town in the cup’s 3rd qualifying round as the brightest.

It wasn’t just the manner of our 4-1 victory against a higher-league level side that made Merthyr so magical, it was the generosity of our hosts in defeat that will have the 40-odd Ites who made the trip recounting the experience in their dotage.

At the final whistle, as our small but jubilant red and white following embraced and sung ourselves hoarse in delirious disbelief, one after another Merthyr fans approached for a handshake and a word of congratulation.

The show of magnanimity continued as we carried our celebrations into the Merthyr clubhouse. Their response to losing a game they were equally as desperate to win, for reasons of finance and glory, was humbling and inspiring.

So, a heartfelt ‘thank-you’ to everyone at Sheppey, from boardroom level through to management and our brilliant army of volunteers, whose big dreams and years of hard work have made nights like tonight happen. Not forgetting the players, of course.

To everyone else, enjoy the game because unless we live until 2154, we might not see another like it.

For live match updates throughout the evening, visit KentOnline sport.

For live TV coverage of Sheppey United v Walsall, tune into ITV4 from 7pm.