Dover Athletic manager set to stay as club move to 'three mornings a week training'

Manager Andy Hessenthaler has revealed he has been offered a new year to stay at Dover Athletic and reckoned, “there’s two or three things to agree but I think when I come back from my holiday it will be sorted”.

That timescale means the deal should be tied up in the next couple of weeks and in the meantime, The Whites chief has been busy recruiting existing players for next season’s squad to compete in the National League South following the club’s relegation from non-league’s top tier.

Hessenthaler also disclosed that Brighton & Hove Albion and Gillingham would be coming to the Crabble for pre-season friendlies and that the club are changing from two nights a week training which could affect who is able to sign.

“We are going to go three mornings a week which is something the chairman has been wanting and I prefer it personally,” said Hessenthaler. “It will work with some players. A lot of the teams still go for that model. For some players the problem might be what they are doing for those other two days and it will depend on what sort of jobs they’ve got. We’ve got quite a bit of work to do. We’ve got to try and get the spine of the team done and build around that.

“It will still be a fairly young squad. We’ve still got a budget to work to and it won’t be anywhere near the biggest. We know what budgets are out there. We’ve got to manage it and get the balance right [experience and youth].”

Hessenthaler said the club will soon be issuing a retained list and that he already had five youngsters signed on while a big plus is that last season’s player of the year, centre-back Jake Goodman, wants to stay. He added: “I’ve spoken to all the players we had last year. We’ve got the players we’d like to keep and some we’ve had