‘I want to drive us forward’ – Former Brighton and Crawley Town defender joins Horsham FC

The Hornets have snapped up veteran defender Sami El-Abd following his release by National League outfit Dorking Wanderers.

The 35-year-old made 13 appearances in all competitions for Wanderers last season.

El-Abd was with Brighton & Hove Albion until he was 16 and then played for Crawley Town.

He left the Reds in 2006 to link up with Team Bath, and the defender played more than 100 games for them before the team folded.

He joined Bognor Regis Town from Peacehaven & Telscombe in 2015, having also served Hayes & Yeading United, Lewes, Chelmsford City and Whitehawk.

The evergreen centre-half joined Dorking at the start of the 2018-19 campaign, and captained Wanderers to the Isthmian Premier title in his first season.

He was also in the Dorking squad which earned promotion to the National League three years later.

Speaking to Horsham’s website, El-Abd said: “Dorking have gone semi-full time so they’re training mornings which doesn’t fit in with my work.

“Dorking used to train at Horsham on the odd night so we’ve seen the set up, we’ve seen Horsham training and I’ve built a great rapport with Dom [Di Paola, Hornets boss].

“I know a few of the players – me and Dougie [Tuck] played together at Bognor and he speaks really highly of the club – and it’s quite a similar club to Dorking when they were in this league, so it felt like a good fit.

“You need a good manager, good leadership, team morale, and a great club set up like you have here at Horsham.

“I came here earlier in the summer to speak to Dom and he was talking about the next steps of the infrastructure and putting more kiosks in because the fanbase has grown exponentially over the last couple of years so it’s all those things, and having the foundations in place.

“It seems like Horsham is ready for that next step and I want to drive us forward into it.

“Leadership is my biggest thing, especially on those Tuesday night away games where I come into my own, when you need to dig in deep and get more aggressive. So that’s what I’m hoping to bring to the team.

“I followed Horsham last year and they weren’t far off hitting the play-offs and I think again we should be there or thereabouts.

“Other teams are strengthening well and using their bigger resources but if we can keep everyone fit then we’ll have a very good chance.”