Dawlish News

And that would complete the first part of a three-point plan which chairman Nigel Gooding outlined when he fronted a three-man take over at the cash-strapped club in October.

"I think it safe to say we'll still be a Western League club next season, even if we don't stay up," he says.

"My view is that we're now a mid-table Premier Division side, given some of the performances against the likes of Bideford, Backwell and Exmouth Town in recent weeks.

"Certainly we wouldn't have lost to the Melkshams, Keynshams and Elmores if we had had the present side, but all is not lost and I still see us rolling over some of the big guns before the season ends."

Gooding has organised an Open Forum at the clubhouse for Monday, January 12, when he'll go over his three-point plan for the future which includes turning Dawlish Town into a community club and centre of football excellence for Teignbridge.

"We've sent invitations to Devon County FA, all leagues in the area, community associations and the Dawlish United youth set-up, because we want this to be a football club rather than for social drinking," he said.

"The first focus has been to ensure we maintain Western League status, and, as I've said, we've gone a long way to making that happen.

"The second part of the plan is to build a facility strong enough to progress to the next stage of football and the Southern League, should we want to go there.

"And the third phase is to create a Centre of Excellence for football that will see Dawlish Town produce its own talent in seasons to come rather than have to go outside."

Gooding went on: "People have already been on my back accusing me of elitism: of only being interested in 14 to 18 year olds at the top of the tree, but that's not so.

"We want to establish a Centre of Excellence for nine to 18 year olds, both boys and girls, through Dawlish United, but that doesn't mean confining ourselves to, say one team of under-17's or one team of under-16's.

"There would be more than one team in certain age-groups if the demand is there, so no-one gets left out, but all the time we must be looking to bring players through to play in our first team.

"They do it at Bideford Town where the first team is now top of the Western League, and Ottery St Mary, who are top of the Devon League.

"Like them, we have to build from within, because Dawlish Town is no longer prepared to take in players who then leave at the end of one or two seasons.

"People are constantly on to me that we have no local players in the side, but it's only because there's no mechanism in place to attract them.

"Hopefully, our three point plan will work for it all to change in due course," said Gooding.