Newtown Football Club manager Andy Cale has told www.mynewtown.co.uk that his priority for the season is keeping the club in the Welsh Premier League without running up debts.
Speaking exclusively he said success can be measured in different ways. "For our club, success is about rebuilding on and off the field, establishing ourselves in the new league and not creating any debt that burdens the club.
"Every league has teams that have good players, managers , coaches and supporters. Every league has a team that finishes top and bottom - the challenge for every team is to maximise their potential and maximise their assets for the league they are in.
"Success for me on the field is to have a group of committed players who want to play for the club and give their all every week. Success is about trying to play attractive football, trying to pass the ball well and trying to defend when we have to.
"I have been absolutely delighted with the manner and attitude of all the players in trying to do the right things. If we keep trying to do the right things, success will follow- results will follow," he added.
"The players train well and have a great spirit and outlook on performing for this club. The league is a tough one and the difference between the top teams and the bottom ones is not a massive one in technical terms of the starting 11’s but it can be massive in terms of overall budget and playing numbers.
"I have been fortunate to have been involved in the league for a long time and would like to think that i know the league, the clubs and all the players involved. We know exactly where we are in terms of the budget spent and numbers of players we have available for every week.
"Our club is well run, operates efficiently and relies on a large number of people to which I, the staff and the players are very grateful and we cannot thank them enough. They are successful in the work they do and I am trying to be equally successful on the field.
"Success for us at Newtown is very different for “success” at other clubs. We can only focus on what we can do for ourselves with the resources we have available.
"We aim to be successful on the pitch so that the club continues to grow and offer good football opportunities at the highest level in Wales. Success for us will be to develop our current playing squad and make them better.
"Success for us will be to finish above clubs that have larger budgets and larger playing squads than ourselves. Success for us is to start to create more opportunities for young local players to play in the league if they are good enough.Success for us is to recruit better players to add to our playing squad.
"Success for us is to win as many games as possible, or not lose them. Where are we now after the first part of our season? From where we started, a week before the actual season began i am relatively pleased. I think we are improving as a team in terms of our understanding and togetherness
"Our current squad, whilst not large, is getting better with each game. We still make some errors but the number of errors per game is reducing. We are learning from these errors and aim to be better for each game.We have now got a settled squad that operate within budget.
"We will recruit more players when the transfer window opens- the number of players coming in depends on how our team is performing at that time and who is available, he added.
"We know that the league splits into two in January - top 6 and bottom 6. I do not think we will be in the top 6 unless we can attain some surprise results against teams currently sat in the top 6, for example Bangor, TNS (twice), and Neath. But remember not being in the top 6 does not mean we are unsuccessful- we may be going our best, playing to our maximum and still be in the bottom 6!
"Our collective goal is to grow and be better than we were last season in a much harder league. This will take a lot of hard work and a little time.
"We are moving in the right direction and success will not come overnight. I cannot guarantee that we will win every week, but i can guarantee that we will be trying. "
Photograph: coutesy of www.welsh-premier.com