Following the 2023/24 Campaign, Havant and Waterlooville FC Chairman Derek Pope wishes to openly communicate the following.

First and foremost, I would like to personally Thank our loyal supporters and sponsors for their dedication and unwavering backing that they have given the Football Club over recent times. We acknowledge that this Season has been far from good enough. In spite of this, we have still been supported in great numbers throughout the campaign, home and away and as a club we are extremely grateful for this. The Board do recognise their mistakes in the appointments of previous Management but it would be remiss to not express our gratitude for the Interim team who have led the turnaround since the start of December.

As a Football Club we are extremely disappointed with the situation that we find ourselves in. I feel this started back in December 2022 and we’ve been in decline ever since then. We made a change on 10th March 2023 in pursuit of a new direction, which unfortunately didn’t work out. After not seeing an upturn, the decision was made to once more make a change on 8th September 2023. The short tenure of this Management team saw the removal of the individual at the start of December 2023 before Cliff, Ross and Rich took the Interim Role and tackled the task ahead. From this point onwards, having nearly played half of the League Campaign, it was a mountain to climb from there if we were to stay in the division. Upon the interim team taking charge, we were rooted to the foot of the National League South table on just 6 points after 20 games played. As a club, we were 6 points adrift of Dover in 23rd place and 14 points from safety, which is clear to see that we were heavily on the back foot.

Despite a turnaround in performance and atmosphere in and around the Football Club, we fell just short and unfortunately will be playing Step 3 Football next Season. We’ve done this journey before so hopefully we can make a start with this new chapter as we attempt to bounce back under a new Head Coach, who will shortly be announced. Going forwards, we will continue with our Hybrid Training schedule as we believe this will allow us to remain competitive in the 2024/25 Season. The Board will be working closely with the new Head Coach to ensure that the team is given the best possible opportunities to bounce back to the National League South.

Thank you all once again and look forward to seeing you all for next season to help us on our push!