Whitton look for support in Premier bid

Elvin King

WHITTON United manager Garry Thompson is looking for the Ipswich public to support his team following promotion to the Premier Division of the Ridgeons League.

The Norwich Road-based club has never reached this level before and former Ipswich Town professional Thompson wants to see more numbers at home matches.

His team moved into the top three for the first time since September with a 5-0 victory over Godmanchester on Saturday.

“We have people who come and watch us, but it would be nice to think that we can attract a lot more,” said Thompson, who is going to carry on next season along with his assistant Neil Gregory.

“With no disrespect to other clubs I felt we were a little stronger than most in the First Division.

“And we will now be playing against the top non league teams in East Anglia. We have already started preparing.”

Thompson is hoping that the bulk of this season's side will stay put and he already has his eye on a number of additions.

“And players have been coming to me, which is nice,” he added.

“To be honest we made a meal of going up behind Tiptree and Ely City - along with a number of other clubs - but we crossed the finishing line in the right position.

“I had a phone link with what was going on at Hadleigh and knew on the final whistle that they had lost and we had moved up.

“Neil does as much, if not more, work that I do and it is important that he has decided to stay as well.”

Whitton will be moving to a brand new stadium in a couple of years, but in the meanwhile they have to make some improvements to their current ground including putting seats into their stand area.

Ridgeons League secretary Nigel Spurling sees no great problem, saying: “We are talking with Whitton and bearing in mind that they are due to have a new ground in the not too distant future we do not anticipate that there will be any insurmountable problems.”