When he was at secondary school, George Pickering, a supporter of AFC Croydon Athletic, would make it a ritual to play football on a recreation ground near where the club is now. One day, a young, “really talkative” kid with “lots of energy” turned up to play with them.
“It just felt like he wanted somewhere to go, a bit of an outlet,” Pickering, now 34, recalled. It was only years later and from a friend’s recollection that he learned the boy they kicked around with was Stormzy – or Michael, as they knew him.
The multi-award-winning musician has now joined forces with Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha – who also grew up in the the south London borough – and former Palace head of player care Danny Young to buy the non-league club.
“Everyone’s been excited; some people literally can’t believe it,” said George’s father Paul Pickering, the club’s current director, who has been in talks with Zaha over the past year. “They’re saying: ‘It can’t be real – is this actually happening? Is it April the 1st?’”
Through several meetings, the new owners convinced the existing committee and board of directors that their visions aligned for the club’s 3,000-capacity Mayfield Stadium in Thornton Heath – fittingly where Zaha scored his first-ever professional goal playing for Crystal Palace reserves. All 35 members of the club’s committee voted in favour of the takeover.
“It’s not like the guys from Hollywood coming in,” said Paul, referring to the purchase of Wrexham FC by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in 2021. “I think it’s a bit of a toy for them. I think with Wilf and Stormzy it’s something they really want to do and really believe in.”
The club has ambitions to get more kids involved – more than the current 200 that play junior football for the club each week. And they want to create a girl’s team.
“I think there’s a really important point for us that they don’t forget where their roots are,” said Sean Ryan, a Croydon local and season-ticket holder who has been involved with the team since 2012, while working as a civil servant full-time. “It’s crucial that they understand that some parts of the community are struggling, and they want to make football accessible.”
Paul Pickering, who has been the club’s director since 2012, pointed out that driving down the stadium approach road currently risks damaging a car’s suspension. The floodlights don’t work very well and the club loses money annually. Sponsorship is difficult, with local businesses already stretched by the cost of living crisis.
One local business, The Cronx Brewery, has been supporting the club by providing beer, sponsorship and pitch-side advertising.
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“It’s important that local businesses do thrive in these tough times, and to promote local community spirit,” said the brewery and bar’s director, Mark Russell, who said he is very excited by the news. “If you lose that, then you lose part of the soul of the area.”
Moving sprinklers around the pitch on Wednesday, club director Mike McCue said he makes the hour-long drive to the grounds from Kent each day. The groundsman only works part-time but McCue and others fill in the other work that needs to be done. Why? For the love of football and the club. “Not many directors get their hands dirty, I don’t think,” he said, laughing.
George still remembers the day his father took him to the stadium for the first time to see a neighbour play Tonbridge Angels, 15 years ago. In the subsequent decade, a huge fanbase was built, later becoming the Rams Army.
“It’s going to give a lot of young people a way of focusing themselves and not hopefully getting in trouble, because Thornton Heath isn’t the greatest area, unfortunately,” he said of the new ownership.
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where you are in the world – football always starts at the lowest level. You can’t just have a league that is at the top with nothing below it; it just doesn’t work.”
