Pre-season update

Due to the way we are going about things with so many of these lads being given the chance to stake a claim we will not be able to announce further definite "signings" until pre-season is underway. Jon Underwood and Neil Baker Following the signings of Dave Woozley, Adam Foulser and Eddie Smith this week we wanted to outline our plans in terms of how we intend to put together the remainder of our squad for the coming season. Also with a few comments and questions coming from our previous club we wanted to take this opportunity to put a few rumours to bed.

Within days of us being announced as managers of Slough Town many of last season's Godalming squad expressed an interest in continuing to work with us as managers. This was without any of them being offered anything by us. We made it clear that our first job was to speak to the Slough players and that we wanted to give the Godalming committee and new manager every opportunity to speak to all of them. We honoured this agreement and provided them with phone numbers for every player.

As it stands now we are expecting many to attend pre-season training with us when we start on July 2nd. Some of these lads have been offered deals and have accepted them and some will be in a battle to win a squad place. Under the circumstances we will not be revealing who has been offered deals and we would gratefully respect supporters and fans not to speculate on this matter as we feel this could be harmful and detrimental to both the player and the club.

From the conversations we have had with last season's Slough squad we are expecting 8 or 9 of these players to also report for training. However as with all the players we are talking to this could of course change. In addition to the two groups of players we have mentioned there will be further new players making around 30 at the start of pre-season. By merging this group with a similar number of other good quality players for pre-season training we believe that we will be able to put together a very strong squad that will be up competing at the right end of the table - which is where we want to be.

To clear up a few questions relating to last season's players we had two very positive conversations with Adam Martin who is a player we rate very highly indeed. He has been given an opportunity to join a really good club from the level above and has decided to take this and we wish him all the best. As the move hasn't been announced yet by his new club we will not make any further comment on this.

We have been unable to get in contact with Ryan O'Toole and Steve Perkins and at this stage neither of them will be included in the squad for pre-season. Jamie Jackson initially wanted to stay for pre-season but informed us last night he plans to move on. We wish him all the best as we know he has been a great servant to the club. As some of you may have seen last night Jake Somerville has joined who is a fantastic young keeper and we also have young James Hawtree. We also plan to have a very experienced keeper coming down to work with these two in pre-season.

Over the course of the first few weeks of pre-season, and the opening 3 or 4 friendlies we will be working towards achieving a manageable squad of approximately 17 or 18 players. This will be a tough process and we expect the pre-season training and friendlies to be extremely competitive as players look to earn a place in the squad and starting line-up come August 17th.

Due to the way we are going about things with so many of these lads being given the chance to stake a claim we will not be able to announce further definite "signings" until pre-season is underway. I am sure you appreciate this and I really hope you will give us the time we need to carry out our plan. With the early friendlies not far away we would appreciate restraint on speculation as we have found that this does not benefit anyone and can only lead to problems; and in some cases potential loss of a prospective player. The supporters will obviously get the chance to see all of these players very soon as we begin to make decisions on the squad in the second half of July. However as players sign their Southern League forms we will of course make announcements at that point.

We understand the last month has been a strange time for supporters with lots of comings and goings but hopefully this statement explains our intentions and that you can understand with so many players to look at why we don't intend to make any further announcements.