AMBITION is all very well but is it wise to move up from the Ridgeons League to the next level of football?Carl Chenery, the Leiston manager, certainly has his doubts.

Elvin King

AMBITION is all very well but is it wise to move up from the Ridgeons League to the next level of football?

Carl Chenery, the Leiston manager, certainly has his doubts.

The manager has assembled a strong squad this season, and one certainly capable of finishing in the top three of the Premier Division and so become eligible for advancement to the Southern League.

But Chenery says that personally he would hesitate before making such a move.

“With respect I have to look at AFC Sudbury these days and wonder what they have gained by moving away from the Ridgeons League,” he said.

“They were a name when doing well in the Ridgeons and reaching FA Vase finals.

“Now they are less high profile.”

Chenery brought a number of players to Leiston from AFC Sudbury during the summer and he wonders about the problems caused by the extra travelling involved since Sudbury and Bury Town were moved to the Midland Division of the Southern League.

“If we are in a position to advance it would be a question of sucking it and see at the time. But it would not be a straightforward decision,” added Chenery.

“There is nothing wrong with ambition and the great work that our chairman Andrew Crisp and his backroom team do deserve its reward.

“But you need to have sufficient backing and sufficient funds to consider a move upward. It is a bigger commitment all round.

“We have an excellent structure at Leiston and my assistant manager Ian Smith sums it up when he says it is the best he has known having been involved in Ridgeons League football for a long while.”