Deal Town manager Steve King looks towards the summer after promotion from the Southern Counties East Premier Division –Champions end season against Stansfeld at the Charles Ground on Saturday

It will be a normal summer for Deal, manager Steve King insists - as he begins planning for Isthmian League football.

The Hoops will begin their 2024/25 campaign in Isthmian South East after winning the Southern Counties East League Premier Division title.

They haven’t competed at that level since the 1960s but, as he usually does, King will target a few quality additions to his loyal squad in the close season rather than making wholesale changes.

“It’ll be our normal summer,” he said. “We will assess and maybe look to bring in two, three or four players to areas that we feel we can strengthen.

“But these players have proven they are good enough to play Step 4 football. Providing they want to be here, which I’m sure they will, they will get that opportunity.

“If you look at what we brought in last summer, Rory Smith was the only real one and Elliott Moore - who actually ended up playing for Lydd against us.

“Then, we brought in Ife Oni in October from sort of nowhere. It just came from a phone call, and Adam Molloy and Ashley Miller in January when we lost a couple to injuries to just strengthen us up.

“We’ll add, of course we will, but we won’t be ripping it apart and building a new squad.”

Success in recent seasons has reaped rewards off the pitch with crowds on the rise at the Charles Sports Ground.

King said: “Our crowds would have been the second-highest average attendances in Isthmian South East, behind Ramsgate, because we’re averaging more than 500 now. We’re not going to go up and win it, of course we’re not, but we want to go up and be competitive. We want to keep the feelgood factor around the town and see where we can go. Why not? Why can’t we compete at that level?

“I have worked in SCEFL for a long time, so