New Dartford assistant manager Roland Edge admits promotion will be the main aim for the club in the 2024/25 season - but knows it will be far from easy.
Edge has been appointed Ady Pennock’s No.2 at Princes Park this summer, the duo keen to ensure the Darts’ Isthmian Premier stay is a brief one.
But plenty of other clubs - including 2023/24 Play-off Finalists Chatham and fellow Kent rivals Dover, also relegated from National League South - will be among those to have similar ambitions.
Edge said: “Everybody says the same about that, don’t they?
“I feel Dartford fans will be saying ‘We will bounce back up’ - obviously, that’s what we’re hoping for - but it’s going to be tough.
“If you look at Hornchurch last year, they ran away with it. But I actually thought Billericay would be second - it just so happened Chatham did really well.
“I watched the Semi-Final at Chatham actually and they both (Chatham and Horsham) played like sides from the level above.
“I think anyone from eight or nine could go up.”
Former Gillingham defender Edge, now 45, has always kept in contact with Pennock since their days playing together at Priestfield and jumped at the chance to work alongside him again.
He said: “Dartford has always been a big club, hasn’t it?
"It’s well run and has got good people there.
“Ady got the opportunity to go in there a little bit late in the season. He didn’t really get enough time to put his stamp on things - and get them out of trouble.
“He rang me up and asked me to be his No.2.
“When I broke through into the Gillingham side, Ady was well-established. He was a big character.
“The team was full of good guys, as well as good players - not just one or two - there were the likes of Ady and Iffy Onuora, and a lot more.
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