Joint-manager Joe Lea shares his thoughts of where the club is currently at and a general off-season review as we edge closer to the start of pre-season, he said: “We finished on such a positive at the end of last season, and it’s been nice to have a break from all the games, but now we’ve put together a squad that can hopefully continue how we ended the season.”
Lea added: “We’re in a good place as a club, the off-season has not been particularly relaxing, but we’ve got the majority of our business done early which is really positive.”
Regarding the players retained following the end of the 2024/25 campaign, Lea said: “You will always get turnover at this level, but we wanted to keep that core together, we’ve got good experience in there and a number of players who have played at this level and higher.
“We have obviously added Corey (Jordan) early in the off-season, someone we know really well, a player who belongs at least at step two so really pleased to add him.
“The lads that we’ve brought in, are lads that not only ability wise will hopefully be able to deliver what we want, but will also reflect the environment we are trying to build at the club.
“It’s important to us that the environment is of real positivity, high energy and attacking forward thinking football which I’m sure a lot of the fans would have seen in the last few months of the seasons.”
With the likes of Weymouth, Dorchester Town and Havant & Waterlooville in the same division next season, Lea discussed the competition at the level, he said: “This league is going to be ridiculously strong this year, so it’s evident we need experience in our ranks.”
“There is probably eight or nine teams that think they can win the division, so we know it’ll be tough.”
He added: “With our squad being near-complete so early on, it’s really positive for me and Pat, we’ve been really fortunate with the support we have had from Andy (Rossiter) and the board.
“We now feel like we have almost got all the pieces of the puzzle together, we’re nearly there which Is a really nice feeling.”
