BIG INTERVIEW: Change at the top but new faces are up for the challenge at Diamonds

“There’s been a lot of hard work. There is a lot of hard work ahead.”

Those were the words of new club chair Rob Usher as a new era begins at AFC Rushden & Diamonds.

There’s no doubt about it, it’s been a torrid season so far at Hayden Road, particularly on the pitch with Diamonds in big trouble at the wrong end of the Southern League Premier Central.

But while the on-field matters have been well documented, there has been huge change behind the scenes as well.

An EGM was called for November 2 for members to discuss the “current situation and to formulate a way forward for our football club”.

That was swiftly followed by a second meeting later in the month in which virtually a whole new board of directors was elected.

During what proved to be a busy and, quite clearly, very important month for the club, appeals for more volunteers were made and, just last week, the key roles within the board were confirmed with Usher becoming the club’s new chair.

Sitting down with him, new vice chair Alex Raspin and board member James Anker during half-time of Tuesday’s 3-1 defeat to Tamworth at Hayden Road, it’s clear the passion is there from the new faces at the top of the club to steer the ship out of some choppy waters.

Usher is quick to point out it’s not a “sinking ship”, more a ship that needs steadying.

This is, perhaps, the first real moment of upheaval the phoenix club has had to deal with in its 11-year history.

Having previously been under the stewardship of Ralph Burditt and vice-chairman at the time Jon Ward, Diamonds tasted plenty of success as they worked their way from Division One of the United Counties League right up to Step 3 where, for the time being at least, they still remain.

There have been challenges along the way, of course, not least the Covid-19 pandemic.

But the last month or so has seen the biggest change behind the scenes so far since the club was formed.

And Usher, who seems a cool and calm character which is what is probably needed at the moment, admitted getting the right people into the right positions has been the main priority in the early stages of the new board’s tenure.

“It’s been busy, really busy,” Usher said as he reflected on the first two or three weeks of being involved behind the scenes.

“There’s been a lot of hard work but a lot of good work.

“The first thing was redistributing people’s roles in the board and to look at what we need to achieve now.

“Putting the right people in the right positions is key and I think we have done that well.

“It’s been more a case of steadying the ship, I wouldn’t say it’s been to the extreme of saving a sinking ship. It’s probably somewhere between those two boundaries.

“There is a lot of hard work ahead but we have made a good start on a lot of that.

“What we have seen is some really great people at the club come back and get back involved. That’s the best turning point I have seen.

“People are engaged and they are up for the fight.

“For the majority, people just see what happens on a Saturday at 3pm and what we are trying to do as a board is stay away from that.

“That needs to be a byproduct of what we do around the board table throughout the week outside of our nine to fives.”

In Diamonds’ situation, it’s very much a case of what money comes in is what can be used for paying bills, players and everything else that comes with running a football club.

There’s been plenty of speculation about the financial state of the club in recent weeks, spurred no doubt by the disappointments on the pitch that have left Diamonds searching for their third permanent manager of the season following the departures of Andy Burgess and Richard Maxwell.

Attendances have dropped and hit a season-low of just 213 for Tuesday’s clash with Tamworth – not ideal when it’s the main source of income for most non-League clubs but particularly when it’s fan-owned.

“There’s a whole host of reasons why people aren’t coming through the gate in the numbers we want them to,” Usher said.

“Some of that is down to what happens in the 90 minutes on the pitch, some of that is down to decisions that were made before the new-look board came in and we are doing our best to rectify that.

“In terms of the gates, we need to give people a reason to come. We need people to want to spend their money with AFC Rushden & Diamonds.”

And what about the club’s financial position generally?

“When it comes to finances, we’re not in a place we’d dream of but, again, that’s what our job is,” the club chair added.

“We don’t focus on what happens in that 90 minutes. We focus on what we can influence around the rest of the club.

“Alex, our vice chair, is heading up the commercial side and we have had some good work going on there.

“Things aren’t as rosy as we would like them to be but we are committed to making that change.”

You don’t really envy anyone who gets involved in running a football club.

It's a role that brings with it so much responsibility and just as much scrutiny.

But the new faces involved at Diamonds do, indeed, seem up for the challenge and committed to the cause.

And that, in all honesty, is all you can ask for.