It’s been quite a week at Arbour Park. Within three days, Slough Town appointed a new manager, agreed a major investment deal and signed one of the better wingers in National League South. For a club bottom of the table, that’s a clear statement of intent.
Steve McKimm was named manager on Wednesday, taking over a side with four points from 12 league games and no win in five. Alan Julian lost his job after six straight league defeats at the start of the season.
McKimm, 51, has a strong track record. He spent eight years at Tonbridge Angels, winning promotion to National League South in 2019, and later took Cray Valley Paper Mills to the Isthmian Premier play-offs. Long-time assistant Barry Moore and first-team coach Mark Watson arrive with him.
His first priority is belief. He says the players have to start believing they can win again before anything else will work.
On Friday, the club confirmed a strategic investment from Development Holding Company, a Kuwait-based group. The company says it has agreed to take a 70% stake in Slough’s ownership company. Its founder and CEO, Talal Al Ajmi, becomes chairman, and Mike Lightfoot moves to honorary life president.
The key point for supporters is that the money goes straight into the playing budget to strengthen the squad this season. Further funding is planned for Arbour Park, the proposed Tamblyn Fields community sports hub and the academy pathway.
The first sign of that new ambition is already here. Slough have signed 29-year-old winger Dennon Lewis on a permanent deal from Dorking Wanderers.
That’s a real coup. Lewis came through at Watford and has played plenty of National League football with Bromley, Wealdstone, Boreham Wood and Woking. Dorking had tied him down until 2028 only in January, after a first half of last season that brought seven goals and seven assists. He even scored the winner against Slough last December.
The timing could hardly be better. McKimm’s first game in charge is at home to Dorking Wanderers , against the club Lewis has just left.
Slough are still in a big hole, but with a new manager, new money and a proven player through the door, survival suddenly looks realistic.
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