A gentleman who, by his own admission, didn’t enjoy the greatest spell at The County Ground, but has had a profound impact on local football joins me for my latest catch up with former Robins.
Signing in 1979 but managing just over 20 appearances in 3 seasons, Steve Abbley is perhaps better known for spells at Cheltenham and Wycombe, but he is also very well known as Chairman of Cirencester Town.
I’d like to start at the beginning, who were your football idols growing up and how did you get into football?
I am a lifelong Evertonian, as a kid my idol was Alan Ball, best player ever to pull on the shirt. When I was young, football was THE sport, everyone played and it was played on every spare patch of grass everywhere.
Please describe your time at Swindon Town. Any lasting memories, top players you played with etc.
Looking back I can see that I didn’t make the most of my time there, I joined in late 1978 and left in May 1982; made my FA CUP DEBUT away at Blackburn Rovers, and league debut home to Gillingham, both obviously very memorable for me. I played with some very good players, such as Alan Mayes, Andy Rowland, Jimmy Quinn, Chris Kamara, big Steve Aizlewood, and of course Kenny Stroud.
The rest of your playing career was spent in non-league- what was the difference like at the time and did you feel unfulfilled at pro level?
I played nearly 600 games in the Conference and Southern Premier League, for Cheltenham Town, Wycombe Wanderers, Witney Town, Trowbridge Town and Gloucester City; I enjoyed non league much more than Football League, when I left Swindon I just wanted to get back to enjoying playing, and I achieved that with Cheltenham where we were Southern League champions and were promoted to the National Conference
Was it the proposed ground move or the fact they were a former club that attracted you to get involved with Cirencester?
I got involved with Cirencester in 1995, because an old friend knew that I was retiring from playing and needed some help in recruiting better players. In 1996 I became chairman; the attraction was that the club owned its own ground, and it was unencumbered by debt or covenants. Along with some friends, such as Steve Slattery, Biagio Vitale, Neil Cowley and Ken Chapman and ably helped by Anna Kocerhan, who became the General Manager of the stadium, we set about selling the old ground, buying the new one and raising as much money as possible from Football Foundation, we finally moved to the new ground in May 2002, it was a £2.5m project and I’m still there!
How big a moment was the stadium move?
Massive, one of the best things I’ve ever done, we now run over 30 teams from The Corinium Stadium, and its an achievement I’m very proud of.
During the early stages of your tenure the club enjoyed some relatively successful cup runs. In more recent years you have picked up some silverware, how does moments like that feel as a Chairman as opposed to a fan?
In my time as Chairman we have won promotion several times, and I am as pleased as any fan. I’m only the chairman after the final whistle goes , before that I am a fan.
You have had a stand named after you- how proud a moment was that?
It was a big surprise! The committee did it as a thankyou for serving 20 years as chairman, I was chuffed.
I’ve read that there have been recent changes to the youth set up- how do you see this benefitting the club longer term?
The dream is for us to one day field a first team made up from predominantly youth team graduates. If we can build that kind of production line that will be a great legacy for all involved. Alan Lloyd is our director of Football and he has grown the youth section massively in recent years.
I’d like to conclude please with questions about being a chairman. What are your dreams and how far can Ciren go?
I get asked this question a lot, the truth is that any club is only as good or as big as its supporter base. We will go as far as the revenue from supporters will take us ; I think the Southern Premier League is the right level for us, and if we can increase the attendances to say 350 people for home games, the Conference South may be possible.
How crucial is it having a good relationship with local “big” clubs like Cheltenham and Swindon?
Its nice but not crucial, we don’t get much interaction with league clubs.
I read an interview you did about attendances- how has initiatives like non-league day helped?
It has certainly helped, but I wouldn’t say it has been a big improvement. A question I ask myself a lot is why are some towns full of avid and committed fans and others aren’t? When I was at Wycombe 1500 people would turn up to watch the reserves! It’s a mystery I haven’t been able to solve.
What is it like being a Chairman in terms of agent, players, hiring and firing etc?
I leave most player negotiations to the manager, and our General Manager Scott Griffin, both have a wealth of experience in the non league game. My job is mostly to keep the club legal, solvent and moving in the right direction.
My thanks to Mr Abbley for taking time to participate and my best wishes to Cirencester Town when football resumes.
L.I.F.E. (Living In Fyfe's Eyes) 