Sam Wright to step down as Cray Wanderers CEO
Please see here a message from Cray Wanderers CEO Sam Wright who has announced he will be stepping down from the role after seven years at the helm. Sam will remain in post until 29th March with his final match day vs Dover Athletic at Flamingo Park.
“After 34 incredible years of involvement with Cray Wanderers Football Club, including the last 7 as CEO, the time has come for me to step down and I will be leaving the club at the end of March.
It’s been an unforgettable journey, filled with highs, challenges, and countless memories especially since the acquisition of Flamingo Park and the subsequent move into our new stadium.
I want to thank the fans, players, staff, and everyone who has supported the club throughout the years—your passion and dedication are what make this club so special. A special mention goes to all the youth team managers, coaches and parents, past and present that have been a part of the significant growth of the grass roots aspect of our great club, you guys really are the beating heart of the club.
Cray Wanderers will always hold a special place in my heart, and I would like to wish Smudger, Tosh, Alfie, Ugo, Ally & Paddy all the best for the rest of the season
Sam had a solid football career and signed for Cray in the 1991-92 season from Fisher as part of Eddy Davies’ new look Wands side. The club found the going difficult at this time on and off the field but Sam wrote himself into immortality with the winning goal in the 1993 Kent Senior Trophy Final vs Whitstable Town at the Priestfield Stadium. Sam wasn’t sure that he would be playing but for another player’s injury and was the only trophy the club won in the 1990’s.
Aside from a brief spell at Sheppey United, Sam remained a vital member of the squad making at least one appearance a season up to 2001-02 under the management of the likes of Glen Cooper, Johnny Roseman and Ian Jenkins and accepted a role running the Academy team out of Oxford Road and the team won back to back doubles at the same time as the first club were dominating the Kent League. Sam also created a bit of history unlikely to be beaten as helping the Wands win a trophy as a defender and goalkeeper with the decisive penalty save to win the Heritage Cup in July 2010.
Sam had a stellar 30 years career in the Leisure Centre industry for the London Borough of Greenwich but Cray Wanderers received incredible news in March 2018 when planning permission was granted for the proposed new stadium at Flamingo Park on the A20 and confirmed by the Mayor of London in the Autumn of 2018. The club needed a Chief Executive Officer, a brand new role to not only oversee the move but drum up support from business, the local community, schools and bolster the youth section of the club. There was also a massive need to upgrade the facilities at Flamingo Park with the clubhouse which used to be a sports venue of some renown locally back in the day but had become an eyesore used for circuses, fun fairs and boot sales and later became a lap dancing club. This was achieved and to this day, a building of some heritage is now a leading venue not only for Cray Wanderers but as a music venue and for seminars, business lunches/brunches and parties/wakes/weddings.
Sam would become the human face and voice of the club and often appeared publicising the ground and the club on national, digital and online radio programmes and podcasts for the first time. One of Sam’s greatest moments came with an unlikely story when the club were approached by a local church from George Taylor a parishioner who played for Cray Wanderers back in 1938 who ahead of his 100th birthday yearned to kick a ball again for the Wands. Sam via contacts across the media was able to attract the attention of Sky Sports News and reporter Mark McAdam who visited Hayes Lane on 1st March 2020 to film a piece of Mr Taylor signing a contract and did indeed kick a ball again. The two gentlemen maintained a friendship until George’s passing aged 103 in 2023.
The UK suffered it’s worst ever health pandemic in April 2020 with the Covid outbreak and this was a difficult time for a club which was then on the cusp of promotion to the National South for the first time when the 2019-20 season was considered null and void and the following season should barely have started at all. Sam also was able to steer the club forward following the departure of the managerial and playing staff in March 2021 and were able to acquire the services, initially interim of Neil Smith who swerved Cray to Isthmian Premier League safety and would become the club’s first ever full time manager.
The club would wind down the last couple of seasons at Hayes Lane with the Flamingo Park site, now hosting regular youth team football but still looking no nearer to completion. Cray Wanderers also saw history in 2022 when Sam became the first ever Wand to be invited to the Isthmian League board, in itself one of the toughest election to receive. Sam’s departure now means this position is now redundant. Sam at this time was now an entrepreneur who along with his wife Sarah set up a home fitness programme for those still affected following the return of normal life after Covid but also a champion for nutrition product Herbalife. Sam also is a firm believer in the benefits of meditation, and self improvement techniques espoused by the likes of Tony Robbins.
From the autumn of 2023 the ground after a couple of false dawns due to steel production availability due to the war in Ukraine, the club finally received funding from a charity for the laying of a new UEFA approved 3G pitch at Flamingo Park and this gave the impetus for then floodlights, barriers and improvements which meant the club was now officially open for business. The first game was a Women’s League game on 4th February 2024 and from here the pace of change for the ground escalated and into the summer of 2024 a heavy spell of home friendlies which saw the visit of Millwall, Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur XI’s and Cray’s first league game at the ground vs Cray Valley PM and the crowd of 840 was the biggest home crowd since the AFC Wimbledon days of the mid 00’s.
In effect Sam’s work here was done as the club had built enough links locally to lesser the need of a CEO as the club are now ensconced at Flamingo Park hopefully for life and Sam can now unwind and meditate to his heart’s content but still hopefully be part of the Cray Massive and would be most welcome.
From myself personally, I’ve enjoyed every minute of the CEO era as at first it put noses out of joint but it has led to the club reaching parts it never had previously
