New Kingstonian boss Dean Brennan is already targeting Isthmian Premier Division promotion next year ahead of his third game in charge tomorrow (Saturday).
Brennan replaced Leigh Dynan on February 13 and is hoping to secure Ks’ first win in nine games when they face struggling Wingate & Finchley.
Attention has already turned to next season though with Kingstonian sat comfortably in mid-table, and Brennan is confident he can take the club back to English football’s sixth tier for the first time since 2004.
“Kingstonian is a sleeping giant,” he said.
“It’s a massive area and the club have got really good ambitions. They want to get to the next level and that was the main attraction in coming here.
“The club want to get promoted and we’re going to have a bit of a head start for next season because we’ve already started getting ready for it.
“There’s no timescale but I’m hoping we hit the ground running in August and can get ourselves in a title race.”
Kingstonian have signed six new players and released several others since Brennan’s arrival, with the aim of finding a settled side that can fight for promotion to the National League South next year.
Brennan, who has previously managed Hemel Hempstead and Billericay Town, hopes to use this season’s final 10 matches to gain a head start on the competition ahead of the 2019-20 campaign.
“We’d really have to sprout wings if we want to reach the play-offs this season, so we’ll probably experiment a little bit,” Brennan continued.
“Miracles can happen so we’ll take one game at a time, but we have to look towards building a team so that next season we’ve got a 19-man squad and are not using 30-40 players.”
Brennan also urged authorities to help Kingstonian in their search for a new permanent stadium, having been kicked out from their previous ground Kingsmeadow in 2017.
Ks are currently playing fixtures at Corinthian-Casuals’ ground in Tolworth after sharing with Leatherhead last season.
“Everybody needs a home and this club really needs one ASAP. At the moment we’re sort of sofa-surfing,” he added.
“If we can bring success on the pitch that brings publicity and it puts other authorities under more pressure to help home us.”
Brennan will be introducing himself to supporters at a Meet the Manager event in the bar at King George’s Field on March 8.
