Newly-promoted Spalding United targeting more success

Newly-promoted Spalding United won’t be resting on their laurels when they kick off the new campaign.

Tulips CEO Leigh Porter says expectations remain high at the Sir Halley Ground as the club look to build on their Northern Premier League Midlands title-winning success.

“We obviously had a very successful season last season so the chairman and the manager and directors got together and decided we wanted to keep that momentum going,” said Porter, who knows chairman Andrew Killingsworth would love an even bigger campaign in the fresh surroundings of the Southern League Premier Division Central.

“We wanted to capitalise on last season, but we also want to be better. We want to improve and we want to be challenging as we were last season.

“The chairman always wants us to win every game, to get to Wembley and to win the FA Cup. He’s very ambitious, he’s very successful, but he’s very realistic.

“He’s very heavily involved in all aspects of the club and understands the playing side as well as the business side.

“But his target for us, he doesn’t want us to just go out and make up the numbers, he wants us to compete, be successful and have something to play for at the end of the season.”

As one of the league new boys, United know the division’s more established clubs would love to give them a baptism of fire when the hotly-anticipated campaign gets underway.

But Porter would only take that as a compliment.

“We hope we’re a target in every league we play in from now on, because if we are then than means we’re successful,” he added.

“Coming up to a better and higher league where there’s teams around us with big budgets and big expectations could make our lives a lot easier, but we put more pressure on ourselves than anyone else does.

“That never changes, we’ll keep driving ourselves hard and keep the expectations high.

“So what other people think of us is kind of irrelevant in our league as we’ll create the best product on and off the pitch that we can with everything that’s made available to us.”

The Tulips have kept the core of last season’s successful squad, but added a number of fresh signings including former Peterborough United midfielder Callum Chettle, Luke Johnson, previously of King’s Lynn Town and Tyler Winters, the ex-Posh man enjoying a previously fruitful spell with the club.

“There are some teams in our league that feel throwing large amounts of money at players is the way to success and that may prove the case,” porter said.

“But from our point of view we feel keeping that nucleus of a such a successful squad is important, and then adding the quality to that to make the difference and enable you to step up to the next level.

“We’re obviously trying to do that this season.”