Dover Athletic manager Jake Leberl outlines his plans for the squad following relegation to the Isthmian Premier

Manager Jake Leberl is hoping to avoid a complete rebuild at relegated Dover.

Leberl, who’s already been confirmed as boss for next season, wants to keep a good number of the current squad.

That might be easier said than done if players have designs on staying at National League South level.

But that’s the plan for Leberl as he prepares to lead Whites into their first Isthmian Premier campaign in 15 years.

“I’d like to keep hold of quite a few of the squad and build the spine around them,” said Leberl, whose side ended the season with a 3-1 home defeat by champions Yeovil on Saturday.

“That’s going to prove hard because the lads might be trying their hardest to stay at National South level, which I understand.

“But they also need to be realistic, especially the younger boys, because they need to be playing to get more experience rather than going somewhere and being a squad player.

“It’s a balancing act for everyone.

“I’d want to keep about half the squad, roughly.

“A lot of work has gone into these players in the past few months.

“We only have them two hours a week and we’ve started putting things in place with them, so it would be a shame to lose the ones we’d like to keep.”

Dover finished bottom of the table, winning only four of their 46 games.

It’s their second relegation in three years but the table doesn’t paint the full picture.

Leberl returned as assistant manager to Mitch Brundle in November before taking over a fortnight later.

He said: “I’m relieved the season’s over but once I got my head around the situation I actually quite enjoyed it.

“The longer I was in, I realised we just didn’t have enough within the squad to get the results we needed.

“I tried hard to bring lads in but found it almost impossible