Haverhill Rovers player-manager Ryan Gibbs puts together new-look squad ahead of opener against Holland FC

It has been a busy summer for Ryan Gibbs, but the recently-appointed Haverhill Rovers player-manager is happy with the squad that he has assembled ahead of this weekend’s big kick off.

Gibbs, along with his younger brother Jordan and father Rob, has been charged with the task of restoring some positivity at Rovers following last season’s relegation from the Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division.

They will begin life as a Step 6 club on Saturday away at Holland FC (3pm) before returning to the home comforts of The New Croft on Tuesday for the visit of Harwich & Parkeston (7.45pm).

And there will be plenty of new faces for supporters to become accustomed to after a hectic off-season of recruitment. Local players Andrew Conroy, Ryan Swallow and Callum Stone will be familiar to fans, yet many of the signings are youngsters that Gibbs is confident are ready to make the step into senior football.

A batch - including Keiran Woodley and Oliver Scroogie - have arrived from Bury Town Under-23s, while George Crowe, Sam Waterson and Taylor Waterson all have First Division North experience from their stints at Debenham LC.

Jack Rayner - formerly of Long Melford - will provide a bit of know-how and between the posts will be ex-Bury youngster Oliver Kellett-Green.

Assessing the squad at his disposal, Gibbs, who is likely to lead the attack, said: “This is the way we were always going to go. We’ve got some good contacts at Step 3 and 4 but they did not want to drop down, so we wanted youngsters that were ready to make the step up.

“I believe they’re ready for the level and I think they’ll go on to prove that this season.

“We’ve also got the likes of myself, Ryan and Jack to provide some experience. You can’t just have 11 youngsters in a team. You need experience to help see out tight games, win fouls high up the pitch when you’re under pressure and things like that.

“I think we’ve got a good mixture in the group and it will grow as the season goes on.”

With such a new group, it remains to be seen how long it will take for everything to begin to click out on the pitch.

However, Gibbs feels that there is enough quality within the group for Rovers to enjoy a positive campaign.

“It’s a tough one to predict because you never know what will happen and how long it takes to gel with a new squad,” he added.

“As a group we’d love to get promotion but there are probably at least 10 other teams in the division saying the same thing.

“Quality wise I think we’ve got players good enough to be finishing in that top five - and there are two avenues to get up with first place and the play-offs.

“We’ll assess things as we go and if it doesn’t happen this season we’ll reassess next summer and look to go again.”