Gavin Cowan: AFC Telford has its soul back

The attendance for Saturday’s heart breaking FA Trophy semi-final defeat to Leyton Orient was just over 3,500, with fans returning in numbers to witnesses the club’s biggest day for many years.

Cowan watched his side narrowly miss out on a Wembley final, but he wants the occasion to be a marker for fans to keep returning to the New Bucks Head.

He said: “You talk about what makes a great club and it is the supporters.

“It is a great club because of the support, But when it is not going so well and people continue to support that is a sign of a good club.”

“We have been successful this year and we want to be next, and the one after, and we want the fans to stick with them.

“It is easy to revel in it when things are going well,

but when you are not doing so well you need a good group and a good club.

“We want the fans to come back, and stick with us rain, wind or shine.”

The whole occasion and the season under the guise of Cowan has galvanised the club both on and off the field.

Attendances are on the up and the Bucks are still looking good for the play-offs.

Cowan has likened the coming together of the support to that the town showed to young Zak Oliver, when £500,000 was raised to send the youngster for life saving treatment for leukaemia.

The Bucks boss added: “It has rediscovered its soul, and I want it to be the community.”

Managers talk about supporters but it is a community.

“Telford is a vibrant place with a massive catchment area, that can pull together.

“Look what we did for young Zac, the community came out when someone desperately needed us and that is the mark of it. They came out to play apart in helping a boy stay alive, and that is probably our biggest achievement as the club played a part.

“We need to have the same mentality of sticking together.

“People can realise they can be part of something, because Telford can be one of the great, big non-League clubs.