WHILE Mark Ashford knows there may be some Witham Town players who see their future away from the club, the new manager is hoping to form the nucleus of his squad from last season's cohort.

Ashford is building plans for his first campaign in charge at the Village Glass Stadium, having taken the reins as Witham boss at the end of last week.

The experienced UEFA A licence-qualified coach said he was excited about working with the club's up and coming youngsters as well as the more experienced members of the squad.

And although he knows there may be some departures, such as striker Chinedu Osadebe who has followed former boss Adam Flint and taken a step up to join Bishop's Stortford, he hopes most will want to stay and work with him at Witham. Ashford said: "I have lot of experience of working with young players.

"Players like Jack Kemsley and Max Wilson who have come through as promising players at the club and I'm excited about working with them.

"I can't wait to get started, but I'm also looking to get the blend of youth and experience right.

"Someone like John Watson is very important to Witham Town and I'm hoping to get him on board for next year.

"I know there will be players who want to move on, though.

"Some will go to Bishop's Stortford and follow Adam (Flint) and that's natural; it's a step up and the financial rewards will be greater.

"Mark Nicholls told me that everything was done very professionally with Adam going to Bishop's Stortford and you have to respect that players will move on.

"I think three or four will go, but I'm looking forward to working with the players here at Witham.

"I would like to have a nucleus of my team coming from last season's squad.

"In an ideal world there would be a good proportion staying on to be a part of this year.

"That's healthy as there will be a level of continuity where they know the club and what it's about.

"I feel that's very important.

"But I know there will be some players who will be moving and, within the financial constraints we have, I will look to bring new ones in.

"It's inevitable that there will be players who leave and some we will be able to replace internally, but some will have to be external.

"What I will be doing is speaking with all the players to find out where their heads are to find out how many want to stay and I can then identify where we need to look.

"I have a book with names and names of players in all positions and I've built sides before with little money to work with.

"When I was at Stansted, I had to build the side on zero budget so it's not something that worries me too much.

"The good thing is there are lots of talented players out there who want to play step four football.

"For some, money will be a driving factor, but I'm not interested in them, the ones I want to talk to are the ones for who football is the main thing."