Constantine AFC is in "managed decline"

In 2014, Constantine College was brand new and one year group of freshers were tasked with creating a football club from scratch. With help from 3 or 4 older students, we set about building the best club in college football. We soon picked up on some of the negative elements of other clubs and explicitly stated we wouldn't let our club fall into the same traps. At the same time, we committed to the ethics and values of the beautiful game.

For a period of a few years, we had nothing but success. I played in 4 promotion seasons including 2 perfect seasons of 7 wins, and I was never a particularly great player. We knew how to get the best out of all our players and nothing would get in the way of doing our best to win, which kept standards up across the club. The organisation, planning and value for money for the members was outstanding. In addition to making a welcoming club environment, as President, I knew every player in the club, which team they played in, their position, their year group, their age, their course and they all knew I believed in them.

It didn't occur to us at the time that our principles would be abandoned so soon after we left. In recent years we've seen closed squads (players unable to move up or down), captains picking mates, social cliques, animosity between teams and excluding people based on their beliefs. We did not allow that to happen during our time and it's very disappointing to see the club become everything we built it not to be.

At the root of these changes seems to be a year group who simply don't appreciate how we built the club up, only so they could walk in and sabotage it. Constantine AFC had absolutely no business challenging for the Premier League title less than 5 years into its history, and that progress has completely stalled due to a decline in values, standards and principles. The evidence is very clear from the results, this club isn't producing the level of players or the quality of characters it was a few years ago and is regressing.

Closed squads in 2019/20 did a huge amount of damage to the fabric of the club. It was a short-sighted policy from YUSU designed to give more game time to players with low ability. As you'd expect, it backfired spectacularly and since we were more or less the only ones to follow the policy, we were a shambles and had multiple relegations.

As a club, we were previously conscious of not allowing certain players to play multiple games a week whilst others were not selected at all. We learned as early as 2014/15 that, for example, we would rather put a real 3s team out and lose, than borrow from the 1s and 2s and win. The closed squads policy prevented players with ability moving up, and gave a sense of entitlement to 1s players who couldn't be dropped no matter how poorly they performed. It also created a distance between the teams which unfortunately still exists today.

Captains picking their mates ahead of better players would've been unthinkable a few years ago. For example, the 1s striker last season shouldn't have been near the team based on his performances. He didn't score goals but he had the right housemate so he was selected. Players such as the current President and VP were never good enough for the 1s and haven't improved, but they're still being picked. We heard university football was a bit like that, and that's why a lot of people preferred college football.

It reflects very badly on the committee that players are now at risk of being excluded based on their beliefs. Let's be clear, we had no shortage of unlikeable characters in every year group. We didn't see it as our job to exclude them, we saw it as the club's duty to include everyone regardless. Football doesn't care about your colour, creed, race, culture or anything else - it's a game for everyone.

From the outside, it looks as though some of the recent and current committee members are there for themselves, not there for the club or the members. It's egotistical and ugly, and frankly there's no excuse for it. You have a duty to put every member of the club ahead of you and work purely in the best interests of the club - that is not happening at the moment, not even close.

The club really needs to take a look at itself. The decline in values and standards, and the selfish attitude of some committee members have produced a club of mediocrity, shown in every element from socials to match day results. We used to be better than mediocre, and we should be. If necessary, vote out the people whose toxic attitude is sending the club into managed decline, and replace them with strong characters who will unselfishly serve the club back into successful times.