Let's get it right on and off the pitch, says Farnie - EXCLUSIVE

Tunbridge Wells skipper Jason Bourne believes Gary Stevens’ delayed takeover of the Kent League club has to go through before the start of the new season, writes Stephen McCartney.

Bourne, 26, was one of the 32 players that were put through their paces at the club’s opening pre-season training session, held at the adjacent school playing field at Culverden Stadium.

Bourne, a self employed painter and decorator, has won his battle to regain his fitness after breaking his metatarsal in his foot towards the end of last season to take part in the two-hour training session, admitted the club will benefit with former England World Cup star Stevens taking over his home-town club.

“In all honesty, I can’t see it being a bad thing,” a rain-soaked Bourne said EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk. “The club has got to move forward.

“Gary’s put plans in place to move us forward, so I think everyone’s got to trust him and hopefully everything will work out well.”

Despite embarrassing neighbouring Ryman Premier League side Tonbridge Angels 4-2 in a pre-season friendly last summer, and enjoying a decent FA Vase run, which was ended by rivals VCD Athletic in the second round proper, their Kent League form was, however, dismal.

Only Slade Green and Sporting Bengal United finished below them in the table, as Wells picked up five wins and eight draws from their 32-match campaign.

Recalling last season’s campaign, right-back Bourne, said: “In a word. I think disappointing - I think it was a bit of a false position really.

“We had some decent players but never had a settled side. We just didn’t get into the season from day-one really.

“We got off to a flyer with the Tonbridge Angels’ result, maybe put us in a bit of a false position really, but our league form started badly.

“Five straight defeats put us into a bad frame of mind and the weaker players, who didn’t really fancy it, dropped out.

“Until the (penultimate) VCD game (which was drawn 1-1 to deny Vickers the league title) we didn’t really hit any sort of form.”

Moving forward, boss Martin Farnie hopes new faces will turn around the west Kent club’s fortunes.

Former Dartford defender Terry Ratchford, who finished last season with VCD Athletic, and utility-man Dave Forster, whose recent clubs include Sevenoaks Town and Lordswood, attended training today, whilst Farnie wants to bring former Tonbridge Angels, Sevenoaks Town and Lordswood right-sided midfielder Andy Mills into the mix.

Farnie, whose yet to sign any players, said: “Terry Ratchford’s turned up from VCD and Fossie’s turned up, played for Lordswood and he’s been around a bit.

“You’ve got Andy Mills, he’s going to come as well. I spoke to Andy, he’s turned up, he’s got a little knock at the moment, and there’s one or two others in the pipeline as well.

“It needs strengthening from the end of last season but we finished off quite nicely and losing (striker) Dave Hassett is a bit of a blow to be honest.

“I was hoping he’d stay and score some goals for us this year. Now I’ve got to start looking for other options.”

But Bourne admitted that he’s “concerned” that the club has yet signed any players for the new season.

“There’s been talk of a few new players coming to us,” he said. “Obviously we haven’t actually signed anyone on the dotted line yet, which is obviously a concern.

“We have to bring in, I feel, three strong senior players, and keep the squad we had last year - I’d love to see us finish top half.

Despite a population of at least 104,000, Bourne feels Tunbridge Wells should attract a lot more than last season’s average of just 75.

“We need to get more people through the gates,” he said. “I think it’s all about raising awareness of the club (to) get more people through the gates, get youngsters down here.

“A big town like Tunbridge Wells, we should be getting a good gate, but for some reason, we’re not.

“Hopefully that’s where Gary Stevens is going to kick us on, raise a bit more awareness for us.”

And Bourne admitted Farnie didn’t have the “right tools” for the job last season.

“He didn’t really have a strong enough squad,” he said. “I know you can blame, point a finger at the wage budget, but he didn’t have the wage budget, the players in, but I fancy this year we’re going to kick on and improve.”

Speaking about his aspirations for the new season, Farnie urged the club to sort out their boardroom “upheaval.”

“Aspirations? Just to do better than what we did last year,” said the former Dartford coach. “You want me to say win the league, don’t you? But do me a favour, just do better than we did last year.

“There’s loads of things that’s got to happen off the pitch before we can get it right on the pitch.

“There’s a lot of upheaval in the last month or so down here, so lets get it right off the pitch and then hopefully we can get it right on the pitch as well.”

Tunbridge Wells’ opening pre-season friendly is a trip to Sussex County League neighbours Crowborough on Tuesday, 17^th July.

“I’m going to use the Crowborough friendly to see the players that are turning up, the new lads and use it just as a look game really to see the new lads coming into the club,” revealed Farnie.

“I probably won’t use many of my established players, if you like.”

Farnie, whose side play six pre-season friendlies, wants his players to “get fit” ahead of their Kent League campaign, which gets underway on Saturday, 11^th August.

“I’m not interested in winning or losing, drawing pre-season friendlies,” he said.

“I’d like to get (them) as fit, a shape and a way we’re going to play, get the players used to each other.

“Hopefully, we’re going to have six or seven new faces so they’ve got to bed into the way we want to play and into the club so hopefully we can have a successful season.”

Visit Tunbridge Wells website: www.tunbridgewellsfc.co.uk