Dorking manager Marc White delivered what is surely the most brutal post-match assessment in FA Cup history following his team’s 2-0 derby defeat against Horsham on Saturday.
“Today was, wholeheartedly, a bunch of players that were absolutely s—,” declared White.
“I will always put my hand up. I’d be the first to take blame. I ain’t taking blame for that shower of s—. But what I will do is guarantee that there won’t be a lot more of that from these boys.
“Atrocious. They should be called out. They get told when they do well and that’s how life works. Anyone who goes down that ridiculous thing of, ‘Oh don’t slag the players’ … the f—– players get paid, they should do a great job, if they don’t do a f——- great job, they should at least go down fighting.”
White, who founded Dorking Wanderers in 1999 and is the club’s owner as well as manager, has since overseen 12 promotions to take the club from Division Five of the Crawley & District League all the way now to the brink of the EFL in the National League.
They were playing Horsham on Saturday for the chance to reach the first round proper of the FA Cup for the first time in their history.
There were, however, at least some sporting words for their near neighbours who play some two tiers below Dorking in the Isthmian League Premier Division.
“They fully deserve to be in the draw,” said White. “I really hope they get something amazing, life-changing, so my f—— s— players can learn a f—— lesson because they were so poor.
“Myself and the club have planned for this game for two weeks and you would have thought we would have planned it on a fag packet. They’ve embarrassed the management team. It’s not about availability, injuries, who was returning, who wasn’t. It was about the fact that that team let the fans down 100 per cent.”
White also said that there was a “fair chance” that his players would get “fined to f—”.
He added: “Some of them showed that, when the going gets tough, they don’t get tough with it, they get going. That’s going to be a short career for them at my club and our club. All I can do is apologise on behalf of the players and the management team. For a team not to turn up in the FA Cup is scandalous.”
