“Last Season was obviously a difficult one for a variety of reasons and we had a lot to do behind the scenes. The budget for players was severely limited and we had to sort out the contracted players before we could move forward. We had to solve problems as they arose and tweaking what we had went a long way to our points tally - Moving Des Amponsah and Donald Chimalilo to more forward positions and Dan Hartley to centre half, made a significant difference.

We had to be patient but once we could progress things, I think it fair to say that most of the new players we brought in were a success whilst the existing players really dug in deep!

Results over the Christmas period were not what we needed and dropped us back into the relegation battle. On the other hand, however, the results against the North Eastern clubs towards the end of the season were better than expected and really helped our cause.

As we neared the end of the season our squad was so small- it was unreal. Nevertheless, we had full attendances at training on virtually every occasion – the players never gave up. Andy Monkhouse’s coaching and training was superb – second to none, and full credit must go to him.

Andy and I are already hard at work in preparation for the new campaign. It is not our intention to make loads of changes – we have a young side and many of them will develop into better players. We have invited all of the squad from the end of last season to stay on and I have started to arrange meetings over the next week to discuss the future.

We are also looking to bring in some new faces. It is hard work as there is a lot of competition in this area with bigger clubs trying to attract players. We are looking for people who really want to play for Tadcaster Albion so that we can be even more competitive. We are, however, both realists and we know that that the teams around us, such as Farsley Celtic and Guiseley etc, have much larger budgets.

That said, there is no reason we cannot put together a good squad with that little bit of extra experience. I want to be in a decent league position by Christmas so that we can review our situation and perhaps push for a play-off position.

It is an exciting time for Tadcaster Albion. The club has proposals to improve facilities on and off the pitch and I would like to add a few extra members to the management team to achieve our aims.

I am in touch with Tadcaster Magnets about a pre - season friendly. I think both clubs should work together for the benefit of the Town, with the two helping each other.

On the subject of the pre-season matches, we have been talking to several clubs but it is just a little too early to publish any details at this moment. Nevertheless, we are working on the basis that the warm up games will commence early July with, at the very least, one game each week until the season starts on the 13th August.

We want success for Tadcaster Albion but we want to achieve that the correct way by playing better football and developing younger players – people like Jack Carr and Kieran Burton.

Both Andy and I are really looking forward to the new season!”