Diss Town boss Garth Good admitted the club is in a ‘much better position’ than this time last year, as he revealed every player wants to remain at Brewers Green Lane and that the club will field an under-23s team in the upcoming season.
When the former Norwich City Academy coach took up the reins at Diss a year ago, he was met with a depleted squad – if three players is enough to be called a ‘squad’ – that was in desperate need of an overhaul.
Signings eventually came through the door, some arriving as late as February, and, after a rocky start, the Tangerines fought their way to an eighth-placed finish in the Thurlow Nunn League First Division North – four places better than the campaign prior.
Good hailed the atmosphere created at Brewers Green Lane last season between the players and loyal local supporters, but admitted it was ‘disappointing’ to miss out on the play-offs.
This summer had to be different. The club are already back in pre-season training ahead of their curtain-raiser on Saturday, July 27 and the Diss boss said: “Everyone who was involved last year all want to stay.
“Last year I was running around like a headless chicken trying to find players to build a squad, this year it’s the complete opposite.
“People are coming to me to try and join our environment, which is really pleasing. We’re in a much better position as a whole club.
“If I’m being honest, we’ve got quite a competitive group anyway, so I feel if we were unable to sign anyone, we’re still in a strong position anyway.”
Around ‘30-40 players’ attended the Tangerines’ maiden training session of the 2024/25 campaign, as the club has re-established its reserve team as an under-23s side – who will play in the Thurlow Nunn League Under-23 Division (formerly reserves).
The team will be managed by Diss Town Under-18s coach Spencer Derham, who already knows a lot of the players that will make up the squad.
“It was an area of the club I feel we had to rectify,” admitted Good.
“We had seven under-18s play in the first team last year, the jump sometimes is quite a big one.
“If we are to foster them with the right development, we need to make sure there is a gap between those two sides.”
Diss have an almighty head-start on where they were this time last year, causing Good to state that a play-off place ‘has to be the goal’ for the upcoming campaign.
“We wanted to create a club and environment where players were playing for the shirt, wanting to be there and wanting to take the club forward,” he said.
“We made major steps forward last year. If we can add consistency to our good performances, (and) if we can be challenging to get back in the play-offs this year, (it) would be a real achievement.
“This year is about being able to built a better tactical understanding of how we want to approach things, both in and out of possession, and develop our already-solid foundation.”
