Kevin Wilkin full of praise after AFC Telford United volunteers pitch in

Severe flooding at the SEAH Stadium last Thursday left the pitch totally submerged in water, while the concourses and changing facilities were also affected.

The club put out a request for volunteers to help with the clean up on Friday morning, and remarkably the Bucks now look set to be able to host Cleethorpes Town this afternoon.

“It’s a credit to the people of Telford and everyone else that has mucked in and gone there to help out,” Wilkin said. “The changing rooms were under water and there were all sorts of other issues that the club had to get over, so it just shows how many great people we’ve got associated with the club that we’ve been able to get on with things.

“We’re really lucky that we’ve had people volunteering and working hard to get the pitch back in good shape.

“It’s as good a surface as you’re likely to play on, be that in the Football League or outside of it.

“If there’s any that compare to it in non-league I’ll be surprised, we’re incredibly lucky to have such a surface and the groundsman always does a fantastic job with it.

“It’s humbling to see people being so kind. We’ll always be very appreciative of the volunteers at the club, and hopefully that can be reflected in the weeks and months to come on the pitch.

“It’s important as management and players that we now go out and mirror the effort and commitment they’ve shown to the club.”

The SEAH Stadium was due to host Wolves under-21s verses AS Monaco in a Premier League International Cup fixture on the day of the floods, while Telford’s first team were training at the National Sports Centre in Lilleshall.

As such, Wilkin and his team were unaware of the events in Wellington until news and photographs started to circulate on social media.

“We were training that night at Lilleshall, and someone mentioned that there was a little bit of standing water on the pitch,” he explained. “The first picture I saw looked as though about 20 or 30 metres were affected, and then I think about half-an-hour later the place is completely submerged.

“It had gone from one point to something just unbelievable really.”

Thousands of pounds worth of damage was done to the club’s facilities, although the club revealed in a statement on Wednesday that they are partly covered by insurance.

On top of that, a GoFundMe page set up last week has raised over £6,000 to support the club through the recovery process.

And the over 300 contributors, including Bucks striker Matty Stenson, are hugely appreciated by everyone at the club, not least the manager.

“It’s important that players, just like everyone else associated with the club, care deeply about the football club,” Wilkin explained. “If you get that feeling of passion from the lads it can be a strong thing, and I want players that aren’t just here to rock up and earn some money.

“We’ve had players like that and ideally we’ll move away from that kind of person and have a squad of players who understand the wider effect this club has on people.

“It is nice when you get that care and consideration from people that maybe you didn’t expect it to come from.

“Again, the response to the problems the club has faced has been humbling for us all.”