NPL Division One East
Ian Richards admits the new campaign is a journey of discovery for Stocksbridge Park Steels.
Although he has kept a core of experienced NPL players, most of his new signings are from lower leagues.
But whilst he knows it is going to be tough for the Steels, Richards is looking up the table.
“Hopefully we’ll take a few by surprise,” Richards told Non League Yorkshire.
“Some of these players will be going into it without any fear or preconceptions.
“If I’m not ambitious, I can’t expect the players to be.
“I have to be ambitious and hope we are going to finish within that top ten.
“By highering our ambitious, it hopefully stands us in good stead.
“But until we kick off we don’t really have an idea of exactly how we are going to do.
“It would be a huge positive (if we finish in the top ten) because those younger players have had a full season of regular football (at Step 4) and then we can build on that for next season.”
Alongside the league, Richards has his sights set on doing well in the cups.
“We want to progress from last season,” he said.
“We took over when they were six or seven games though and the players responded but we didn’t have a pre-season.
“I always say I want progress so that’s league position but also I really want to do better in the cup competitions.
“They haven’t done as well in the cup competitions in the last few seasons so I want us to do better in the local ones like the Sheffield Senior Cup but also can we have a run in one of the Nationals?
“Whether that’s the FA Trophy or FA Cup.
“I’m not going to set any target or lower expectations by saying let’s make sure we’re not in a relegation battle.
“My ambition is we finish with more points and in a higher league position than last season and we do much better in the cup competitions.”
Stocksbridge visit Dunston this afternoon.