Tonbridge Angels manager Jay Saunders reveals the club have started agreeing new deals with players for next season

Tonbridge Angels are cracking on with plans for next season.

Manager Jay Saunders revealed they have already started tying down players for 2024/25.

There’s still plenty to play for in the last two months of the current campaign, with Angels chasing a top-10 finish in National League South.

But it’s important to have one eye on the future as the club continue to grow.

“We’ve started agreeing deals with players we’ve got at the club for next year,” said Saunders.

“There’s lots of positives going on behind the scenes and then hopefully we can build and improve again next year.

“You’ve got to keep your better players at the club and this is something I’ve said regarding establishing ourselves at this level.

“Before, it was about trying to stay in the league but now it’s about trying to establish ourselves.

“If you can keep your better players, it helps you attract other players as well.

“It’s something we’re working hard to do and we’ve tied up deals with a few of them, which is good, and hopefully other people will see that and see what we’re trying to build here.

“We had it at the end of last season when we lost a few players and you’re constantly trying to find new ones.

“We found it hard at the beginning of the season, I’m not going to lie. We recruited lads we thought would do well for us but they didn’t and we spent a while trying to get better players in, the likes of Sean Shields.

“We’ve got to try and keep these better players at the club so at the end of the season they’re not looking to jump ship, they’re realising we want to try and push the club on.”

Tonbridge ended a four-match winless run by beating Eastbourne Borough 2-0 last weekend.

Ethan Sutcliffe broke the deadlock after the visitors were reduced to 10