Dover Athletic assistant manager Mike Sandmann is confident of better times ahead as the rebuild continues at Crabble

Dover Athletic players return for pre-season next week with the management team purposely leaving room for manoeuvre in their squad rebuild.

It’s a summer reset for Dover following relegation into the Isthmian League and assistant boss Mike Sandmann believes the club are now catching the attention of players who can see the potential for better times ahead.

Sandmann said: “We have had so many boys interested in coming in over pre-season, we are constantly getting calls from agents and people who want to be part of the club.

“I think what people are starting to recognise is that Dover are a club that have been on the decline for the last few years and I think it is almost like a rebuild start-again project and people want to be part of it.

“There’s a lot going on behind the scenes. It is our job to build this club back up and I think players are seeing that, some of them are excited to be part of that.

“We hit rock bottom and the only way is up.

“Dover are still a massive club and with some of the stadiums and places we are going to go to [this season] you can recognise how big a club like Dover still are. Players recognise that actually the end of last year was the end of the decline. It is about stabilising and rebuilding.

“What we don’t want to do is completely fill our squad and then if there are lads who become available we won’t be able to do anything.

“As much as we want to get a core together, and I think we have, we also need to be a bit patient and make sure that we are bringing the right players in at the right time.

“We are happy with the boys we have signed so far, the ones who have returned, and we will have one or two more in the next few weeks.

“[We wanted to] make sure we were solid defensively and you