Striker Ibrahim Olutade feels the love from Margate’s fans as 28-goal top scorer agrees to stay put for 2025/26 season

Ibrahim Olutade has felt the love from Margate’s fans.

Olutade, the club’s 28-goal top scorer, has agreed to stay for the 2025/26 season as Gate look to go one better after a fourth-placed Isthmian South East finish and play-off semi-final disappointment.

The nucleus of Ben Greenhalgh’s squad have agreed to remain for another promotion push, with Olutade following suit last week.

“Every time I’ve played against Margate, the fans they get are always terrific,” the 26-year-old said.

“They’re always loud. You can see the support they give their players.

“I’ve actually felt it being a Margate player because, as soon as I was announced, I got loads of messages.

“Lots of people were messaging me, saying ‘I can’t believe you’re staying’, ‘we thought you were going higher’, ‘Thank you so much for staying’ so it’s nice to get that recognition. It’s good just knowing how much of an impact we made last season.

“Even after games, in the clubhouse, they would just come up to us and have a chat.”

While Gate weren’t quite able to secure an instant Isthmian Premier return, it was a largely positive season for the new-look squad.

Olutade said: “The objective was to get into the play-offs and try and go up through that.

"We knew winning the league with a new squad was going to be difficult.

“But for us, new players all coming together and, obviously, Ben was gaffer for the first time, as well, which I think worked really well [with] him being player-manager because a lot of us hadn’t played under a player-manager before. It was a very good experience and really helped us on the pitch.

“Obviously, it’s frustrating not to get over the line, but that’s the reason why a lot of the boys have decided to stay because we feel like this season we