Money will out.

Croydon Athletic sit top of the Ryman Leauge Division One South after two games, with a 100% record, 12 goals scored and two clean sheets. The Thornton Heath based side have seen a recent turn around in fortunes, that is shrouded by mystery and rumour. Those rumours though (have a look at the kent league forums to see what's being said about them and Holmesdale FC), are probably based on a jealousy of the apparent wealth of new investor Mazhar Majeed, a property developer with a passion for the game. Whatever the truth is, its easy to believe the talk of large amounts of money changing hands up there, and worryingly, the league is beginning to look very much like a one horse race already.

The changes at the Keith Tuckey stadium appear to have come to fruit around the turn of the year. Since Christmas, the Rams have lost just twice in the league. They have an impressive squad http://croydonathletic.net/web/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=284&Itemid=107

and a management duo with plenty of experience higher up the pyramid in the form of former Grays manager Tim O'Shea and his assistant Neil Smith. Its hard to believe they come cheap, and some of the players are certainly not in the £40 a game category.

Given that their attendance seem to average at the 150 mark, I worry for Croydon Athletic. There's no sour grapes in that at all either - I'd worry if we were seemingly overstretching ourselves by that amount. We're clubs of a similar size and stature, both of whom have much larger neighbours up the road (Gillingham in our case, Palace in their's), impacting on the ability to increase crowds and profile. We've seen too many clubs boom and bust over recent years, Fisher, Hornchurch, Telford, Canvey Island. Do we need another one? With commercial property developers undeniably at risk during the economic slowdown, how safe are they?

I hope it all works out well for Croydon. I've visited them twice with Chatham, and we recieved a friendly enough welcome. They're a tidy club much like ours, providing those who don't neccessarily want, or can't afford to enjoy, professional football with the fix that comes from such community based clubs.

More "pitchside", I'm dreading the away fixture next week. Something makes me think they're going to make us look very ordinary. Last time we went there, we were beaten 6-2; a similar scoreline this early in the season would not do wonders for our confidence...