8 hours Ago By [email protected] (Craig Tucker)
Manager Lloyd Hume is confident veteran defender Barry Fuller will be an Ashford player next season. Fuller spent the second half of the campaign on loan at his hometown club from National League South side Dorking. He was back on the bench for Wanderers in their 4-3 play-off eliminator defeat at Boreham Wood on Tuesday night but is expected to complete a permanent move to Homelands this summer.
The former Gillingham right-back remains a class performer at the age of 40 and has also been part of Hume’s coaching team. “Barry’s still a Dorking player but we’ve agreed in principle with him to sign for us,” said Hume. “I’m always going to wish Barry all the best, he’s such a good lad, but I genuinely hope he’s an Ashford player again next year and I’m sure he will be.
“He wants to be here but he’s got a real allegiance with Marc White (Dorking boss) and rightly so. “They’ve got a really good relationship. “Marc’s a great bloke and Barry’s a legend for me.
“I want him to do what’s best for Barry Fuller but, selfishly, I want him to be playing for Ashford. “He’s like Action Man. His fitness levels are unbelievable.
” The other 40-something in Ashford’s squad, Matt Bodkin, is also set to stay on. Bodkin, 41, will remain registered as a player while stepping up his responsibilities as a fitness coach. “Bods has agreed to stay on,” said Hume.
“He’s going to do more of our fitness and strength work next year but he’ll still be a squad member. I still think Bods can do 15, 20, 30 minutes in any game at this level, he’s a great lad.” Everyone has been invited back for pre-season which starts earlier than usual on June 24, with the first friendly at home to Maidstone on July 5.
All “bar one or two” are on board, with the likes of Kane Penn and Jack Dixon among those agreeing terms, although Hume knows things can change in the close season. The manager made a presentation to the squad regarding expectations and highlighting this season’s shortcomings after finishing 11th in Isthmian South East, which included dropping 14 points to sides in the bottom four. Hume said: “Anything can happen in the summer in non-league but they’ve all been invited back and hopefully no one’s circumstances change and I’ll see them them all again in pre-season.
“We’re a very solid group now rather than having lots of comings and goings during the summer, which is what many clubs go through. We won’t have to face that battle. “The presentation was about where we are and what we’ve done.
“But most of the meeting was about what we need to do next year, what the expectation is for people to come back with a level of fitness so we can work on the football side of what we’re doing, as opposed to fitness. “You don’t expect to have to do that in modern-day football because people look after themselves much better than they did when I was playing. “I’m hoping they all take heed of where we are, what we want to achieve next year and I was very clear - if you don’t want to buy into that process, I don’t want you to come back, and that’s why we’re starting back early because we need the sessions.
“What I don’t want to do, which we did last year, was play Saturday-Tuesday all pre-season. “I need training sessions where we can work on things that are not going right, as opposed to keep playing games, and I think part of that pre-season programme last year was one of the reasons we got a lot of injuries early on.” Ashford ended the season with a 1-0 defeat at fourth-placed Margate on Saturday.
The Nuts & Bolts performed well but conceded midway through the second half and missed a late penalty. “In my opinion, it was the best we’ve played in a long time,” said Hume. “This is not being disrespectful to Margate - they had their eye on the play-offs, I’m sure - but we dominated the game.
“We missed loads of chances and got caught with a sucker-punch but even after that we created loads more chances right until the end and missed a penalty. “If we perform like that in games next year we’ll certainly win a lot more than we did this year. “I always want to win but it was a performance I was happy to sign off on.
“The fans have been great this season and they were very good again. We had lots there. “It was a really positive end to the season.
” Louis Collins was named supporters’ player-of-the-year, while skipper and 36-goal top scorer Gary Lockyer won the players’ player award..
