Herne Bay boss Ben Smith preaching patience as he puts new-look squad together this summer

Ben Smith is preaching patience as he puts Herne Bay’s new-look squad together.

Manager Smith will oversee a fourth successive Isthmian South East season for Bay next campaign after a 13th-placed finish.

Smith headed back to Bay, replacing Liam Friend in March, and helped them collect eight points from the final five games of the season despite beginning that run with a 3-2 home defeat to Erith Town.

It means he can put his own stamp on it over the close season, although he insisted their summer recruitment would be a collective effort.

“I’m excited for that - but these things take time,” said Smith. “They don’t happen overnight.

“Yes, I’m the manager and, yes, I’m going to heavily influence who we go for.

“But I like to think of it as a team approach behind the scenes. It will be a new Herne Bay.

“It’s not about me, it’s about what we put on the pitch as a collective, and there’s a lot of people that put a lot of time in for these things to happen.

“There’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes around the budget and it takes more than one person to go and sign a player.

“We have got to make it an appealing and attractive place to be, both on and off the pitch.”

Smith has some tough calls to make. He initially wanted to overhaul the squad but was impressed with what he saw during the season run-in.

He doesn’t want to return for pre-season with a plethora of players, however, as he also highlighted the example of teenage attacker Jack Omans as one of the club’s youth-team players he intends to run the rule over.

“I can only judge from the games I have had with the players,” said Smith, who reported positive progress on the recovery of midfielder Scott Heard from a knee injury that has kept him out since early December.