“We played Swansea twice in the winter of 2007 and at the end of that season Horsham had to vacate the ground and the bulldozers moved in,” says Kevin Borrett. Now chairman of Horsham after stepping in to help save the Sussex club a year after they had reached the second round of the FA Cup for the first time, Borrett will feel particular pride when Dominic Di Paola’s team face Sutton United on Saturday. The Hornets were reinstated when Barnsley were booted out of the competition for fielding an ineligible player and find themselves with an unexpected opportunity to reach the promised land of the Cup’s third round.
“It would be a huge achievement for the club and probably a part of our history that we wouldn’t see repeated for some time,” says Borrett, who was informed that Horsham were back in the Cup 10 minutes before they faced Margate in a league match but didn’t tell Di Paola until after the game. “The Barnsley chairman had called me the day before to let me know that they were likely to be disqualified and it was confirmed by a phone call from the FA 10 minutes before we were due to kick off. I didn’t want to distract him so I didn’t say anything at first but after the game I phoned Dom and gave him the news that we wouldn’t be playing Hastings on 2 December because we were back in the FA Cup.”
Horsham had lost 3-0 at home to Barnsley in their replay. “We’re in the second round through circumstances this time but we want to try and capitalise on that and believe we have a strong level of support, even from Barnsley,” Borrett says. “A number of their supporters really formed a relationship with us over the two games we played against them and I think we have a northern branch who will be rooting strongly for us on Saturday. We’ve already talked about future collaboration between the clubs in some way.”
Given Horsham’s recent history, it’s hard not to develop a soft spot for them. After the glamour of taking Premier League-bound Swansea to a replay in 2007, the club spent 11 years on the road after the old Queen Street stadium that had been their home since 1904 was sold to property developers by the owners, triggering a spiral down the leagues. They were forced to move to Worthing before Borrett – a businessman who until that stage was only a supporter – “put his hand up”, although he couldn’t prevent Horsham from dropping out of the Isthmian League in 2015. They were groundsharing then with their local rivals Horsham YMCA, before playing home games at Lancing for two seasons. “We were nomads with no home ground,” says the club secretary, Jeff Barrett. “But Kevin helped guide us through the difficult times.”
The appointment of Di Paola three matches before that relegation has proved a masterstroke. Horsham were immediately promoted from the Sussex County League and he has led them back to the level they were at during the last run to the second round 16 years ago. They finished seventh in the Isthmian Premier League last season, the club’s highest placing.
“I went through seven managers in that period before we eventually found Dom,” says Borrett. “Throughout the period, he has worked with the budget we have given him and some years that hasn’t been much at all. Now he has the biggest first-team budget that we’ve ever had in our history and he has taken us to the highest level we’ve ever been.”
Word seems to be spreading in West Sussex. Attendances at the Camping World Community Stadium, which opened in 2019 after a lengthy battle with the local council, have regularly exceeded 1,000 this season and a record 3,000 crammed in against Barnsley.
“We’re building on and off the pitch and coming up with a secure base to take the club forward,” says Barrett. “At some stage in the near future we want to get into the next division but aren’t looking any further than that. We’re not one of those clubs who says: ‘Great, we’ve made all this money this season and we’re just going to throw it at building a team that might not be sustainable after the money has gone.’ We try to be sensible about it and the people of Horsham seem to be happy with what we are doing because of the numbers they turn out in.”
Horsham took 500 fans on a Friday night for the thrilling 3-3 draw at Barnsley and their allocation for the shorter trip to south London is a healthy 1,265. Borrett is torn over which result he would prefer against the League Two strugglers, who famously eliminated the former FA Cup winners Coventry at Gander Green Lane in 1989.
“The most lucrative outcome would be a draw followed by a replay but I’m very conscious that to put on our game against Barnsley in the previous round we had volunteers who took a week’s holiday from work to help,” he says. “Playing a replay against Sutton would be a massive logistical challenge but I’m sure everyone would rise to it if they have that opportunity. It would be easier just to win against Sutton and then we can relax and watch the third-round draw.
“We were very fortunate in 2007 to draw against Swansea and I think we will do the same this time. Let’s remember that Sutton are three leagues above us and even if they are struggling in the league at the moment, we are still the part-timers. But it’s a game of 90 minutes so we’re going to give it 110% again and have a chance of getting something out of it.”
