United’s Mark Jones believes he can build a stronger team

The first team manager has had to deal with a number of departures during his first week in the role

Banbury United’s new first team manager says he inherited a situation where a lot of players had already decided to move on, but he’s speaking to other players who can come to Banbury and make the team stronger.

Mark Jones was speaking in the face of a number of last season’s players leaving the club. Having arrived at Station Approach just a week ago he’s already put in place key members of his coaching team with Danny Nicholls and Ben Williams named as Assistant Manager and First Team Coach

Existing members of the team, Matt Haycock and Liam Shea, will be staying on.

Danny Nicholls has worked for a number of clubs including Kettering Town, Corby, Aylesbury United and Oxford City and has fulfilled the role of both a manager and assistant.

Until recently Ben Williams had spent four years as first team Manager at Aylesbury United.

Player recruitment is now firmly the focus for Mark Jones, following announcements by a number of last season’s players that they won’t be returning. Mr Jones believes a “natural evolution” is occurring, but is confident there are other players who can come to Banbury and help build a better team.

He said: “Extremely competitive offers have been made to other players who finished the season with the club and I’m expecting some news on this imminently.

“I have also been in communication with many other players who I believe can come to Banbury and make the team stronger. So expect incomings to be announced shortly. There is no doubt that a bit of a rebuild is needed.

“I inherited a situation where a lot of players had decided for one reason or another to move on. Sometimes this does happen in non-league football and there are times when a natural evolution occurs. The most important thing is that we bring the right players to the Club.

“At this point of the summer, players are still assessing their situations and keeping options open, but rest assured we are working hard behind-the-scenes on player recruitment and new players will be announced over the coming days and weeks.”