Karl Williams and Hornchurch FC

You may have thought that clubs would have learnt a lesson form the Telford experience. This may well be the case but not in Hornchurch.

How can I best describe Hornchurch? A club that lives in the shadows of Dagenham & Redbridge gives you some idea of its size and geographical location. Step in Karl Williams of Coldseal Windows and sud- denly an insignificant club on the edge of a massive housing estate is paying players £2ka week and going full-time. Not surprisingly, Hornchurch quickly stormed to the top of the Conference South; they were paying single players a weekly wage that equated to more than fellow league sides like Redbridge FC turned over in a week. Crowds hovered around the 600 mark which would have barely paid for Lee Elam’s after match shower and brush up.

Within months of building Hornchurch up so that it was totally reliant on Williams’ money, Coldseal Windows went bust. Almost immediately a player exodus started and Hornchurch are back where they started player-wise but significantly worse off financially. What were Williams’s real motives behind Hornchurch? Let’s not forget his company also sponsored the Carthium Cup, The Bryco Cup and a number of lower pyramid clubs. Whatever they were, he must have known Coldseal was in trouble when he invested his money. Hornchurch manager, Gary Hill, must have had some suspicions as he got his annual wage paid up front! What we don’t know is if he kept it all after he walked out at the end of January.

Source Shaymen Down South