It has been an interesting time for Ebbsfleet United of late. Following on from a mightily impressive run to the play-off semi finals in the 2017-18 season, the club is now unrecognisable from that run which came to an end at Tranmere Rovers, now of League One.

The Fleet are now on their third manager since the trip to Merseyside with Daryl McMahon leaving by mutual consent the following November. In came Garry Hill who looked to steady the sinking ship, only to steer it closer towards the metaphorical iceberg thanks to long-ball tactics and reliance on big bodies across the starting eleven, even sending Sean Shields on loan to remove any attacking flair and excitement.

Hill left a broken club and Kevin Watson was chosen to take on the squad which had been cobbled together the previous summer. Seemingly an impossible role to succeed in following long running tough financial struggles including paying staff late month on month, fortunes have begun to turn – to an extent.

May 2018 now feels like a lifetime away for Ebbsfleet fans, but how have things turned so sour in Gravesend?

Since things started to go downhill, so much has changed to try and bring back the form which took the club to just one game from a Wembley Playoff Final. Managers have changed, squads have changed. More faces have come and gone, including the introduction of former Gillingham gaffer Steve Lovell as their first ever Director of Football.

Well, names did come and go until Kevin Watson released that the club is now under a transfer embargo this weekend following a long trip west to Torquay.

In a time of so much change and uncertainty at the club, the one constant has been the ownership. Kuwait Holdings Group dragged Ebbsfleet from near insolvency back to the National League but since that playoff run things have turned sour.

Shortly into the following season it was confirmed that the playing squad had not been paid up to that final fixture, McMahon was soon swept aside, as was the attractive football he had the squad playing.

More late payments followed and before long it became a monthly issue. Big players left. Luke Coulson made the short trip to Bromley to kick off the exodus and it wasn’t long until more followed him out the door in the hope of a stable income and another run to the playoffs.

All these changes, and stability has only come through those paying the wages. And even that stability is questionable – let’s call them familiar faces instead.

So what can be done? Obviously reliable finances would be the main goal for the club, but how long are fans content with waiting for the squad to be paid?

Give it more time to see if the ship can be righted, or fight for the players and the club? Attendances are down to the lowest I can remember since I started following the club back in early 2008 and the disillusion thanks to performances both on and off the pitch is understandable, but when does that disappointment turn to anger and fan activism?

In early April last season Ebbsfleet travelled to Gateshead for an away day, of which the game can be best described as ‘meh’. The real action came after full time when fans of the Tyneside club left the ground and proceeded to protest the owner at the time. At that time it was the biggest organised protest the fans had put together.

They understood the issue back in Kent and invited Ebbsfleet fans to stand side by side those who were on the brink of ousting the owner of their club. Since then the club was demoted by the National League but are now in a much more stable position and fans are enjoying their matchday experience yet again.

There are plenty of scenarios for Ebbsfleet fans right now and ideas of a similar style of organised movement are currently being discussed in small circles of the fanbase.

A similar movement occurred to oust the previous owners MyFootballClub away from Stonebridge Road so it is possible if that is what the people want.

Should fans look north to see what is capable? It’s tough to say, but things could be different at the club right now if there was clear stability, starting from the top.

Who knows, if it wasn’t for a tough 15 minute spell back in May 2018, Ebbsfleet could be the Football League side right now…