Cugley ready to delve into summer transfer market

Neil Cugley has explained his forthcoming plans to strengthen his Folkestone Invicta squad for their next Ryman Premier League campaign, writes Andy Bown & Tom Marchant.

The Seasiders players and management have recently returned from what has become an annual end of season holiday to Magaluf, joined by former Invicta striker James Dryden, who accompanied many of his former team mates and close friends for some fun in the sun.

“The players had a great time and this sort of thing is really good for player morale and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. All the players went out in the evenings but obviously me and Dave Williams ‘declined the discos’ as we say – we’re too old for all that!, said Cugley on www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk.

Cugley has recently been awarded with a new one year deal tying him to the Buzzlines Stadium until the end of the 2007/2008 season, which will mark his eleventh season in charge as the new Board build on the stability in management the club has enjoyed over the past decade.

Asked whether he would have preferred a longer contract the Folkestone boss remarked: “I wasn’t actually offered a two year deal even though it would’ve been nice!

"But I do appreciate that a lot of hard work has gone into the club this season off the field and the Board want to run the finances tightly so they won’t be giving too many long term deals out, which I completely understand”.

The next few weeks will mark an extremely busy time for the manager as he seeks to assemble his squad for next season.

Cugley said: “I’ve got a couple of trips up the motorway in the next few days to talk to the players that I already have and to offer them new deals, which is very important.

"I’ve got a wage budget for next season and I need to know which players are going to be here next season to know where I need to strengthen.

"Once I know which players are leaving and staying then I can go out and recruit new players and I’ll be looking to start that at the weekend and going into next week."

Cugley revealed that speaking to potential transfer targets has been “non-stop” at the moment.

“Mark Saunders and I have got a list of about 30 potential targets that we’re looking at and I’ll be approaching some of them soon but not all of them will want to come because of where we are or the level we are playing at," he said.

“I spoke to a lot of players before I went away and then you come back and find out if they’re still available or whether they’ve been offered anything else.

"It can be a very long winded procedure. I’m on the phone a lot and it’s just about plugging away and making the right phone calls and hoping the players you want will be interested in playing for you.

“A lot of players at this level are on one year deals and it’s about finding out what players are available and those that haven’t taken up new deals and who are free agents, and getting their number and talking to them. It’s a very time consuming process and involves a lot of work for me.”

Article courtesy of  www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk