WEALDSTONE boss Gordon Bartlett admits their marathon season looks set to have a knock-on effect on the club’s transfer activity this summer.
The Stones played more than 60 games last term and had to contend with a fixture pile-up towards the end of the campaign following postponements.
Bartlett’s men were playing three times a week in the run-up to the play-offs, which ultimately ended in heartbreak against Concord Rangers earlier this month.
Preparing his team for so many games has meant Bartlett had little time to discuss extending stays for his Stones squad.
To make matters worse, Bartlett this week lost two of his more experienced heads in Chris O’Leary and Lee Chappell to St Albans City.
Star striker Richard Jolly’s retirement adds to Bartlett’s headache and the experienced Wealdstone boss is facing a difficult summer of recruitment.
He said: “At the end of last season, because of the total focus on the play-offs, we didn’t get a lot of opportunities to speak about the future with the players.
“We were hoping we’d be in the Conference South.
“It didn’t happen and that disappointment has certainly had a bearing on the departures of [Chappell and O’Leary] and Richard Jolly has retired.
“They were three influential players over the last few years but it’s an opportunity to bring fresh blood in.
“There is no way you want players of that calibre to leave. I understood their sentiment. They’ve been at the club a long time and they wanted a new challenge, pastures new, the dangle of a bigger carrot and they’ve taken it.
“In all fairness, I didn’t probably expect these two to go, but it’s happened and they go with my blessing.
“They’ll be welcome back anytime with open arms but time moves on and you have to deal with it.
“Football is like that nowadays and you don’t have players staying at clubs for years. Those two did a fantastic job and stayed longer than most.”
Bartlett’s considerable years in the non-league game will stand him in good stead as he tries to freshen things up at Grosvenor Vale.
But the Stones boss admits he will have to play the waiting game with some of his transfer targets as they are in no rush to commit to signing this early.
He added: “I’ve got lots of ideas [about transfer targets] but unless you’re paying big money, people don’t make their decisions at this stage.
“We’re not a club that is blessed with the financial clout for people to make early decisions.
“The feel-good factor around the club has got better and better in recent years but May has not been the greatest for us. We’ve lost a few players and lost in the play-offs but now every effort from everybody at the club has to be to find the answers and picking the feel-good factor back again for another crack next year.”
