FOR many years Worcester City have not enjoyed the success that many supporters following the club would wish.

I understand people's frustrations as a result of that but since taking over I've always said it was going to take three or four years before we could hopefully restore the club to its former level.

Worcester City, in many respects, is no different to clubs operating at Premiership or Nationwide League level -- big clubs, like Wolves for example, think they should be in the Premiership tomorrow and who is anybody to argue with that -- but things won't happen overnight.

What we did at City last year was to win a trophy and improve our league position.

We are in a similar situation this year in trying to improve again and this is what everybody wants.

How big the improvement is will determine whether we are up there making a serious challenge -- if there is a big improvement we will be challenging.

The Dr Martens League Premier Division is a competitive league and I don't see it changing this year.

Burton Albion have switched to the Northern Premier for reasons only they know but I think everybody would agree the Northern is by no means as competitive as our division.

Our two first games are against Weymouth and Kettering, both sides I expect to be up there, so it will be tough but it is important to get a decent start.

If you look at sides that have ultimately won the league most made a good start -- not too many have come up on the rails as the season progresses.

I think for all the right reasons, people have had enough of pre-season and want to get their teeth into the league campaign.

There is a different edge to competitive games and after five-and-a-half weeks of pre-season we are ready to get going and I think we are all set on achieving a decent start and give supporters something to shout about.

It is proven that if we can give City fans something to cheer about they will come and support us so making a good start is the key to it.

There has been quite a considerable change in playing staff since I arrived here and it's healthy to change a dressing room round.

Somehow you have to try and keep bringing in new players and, although with our financial restrictions it is not always easy to do so, it is important to boost competition and keep players on their toes.

The current squad is coming along and we've proved we can play different systems.

Although we only have two recognised full-backs, Allan Davies and Nathan Jukes, we will hopefully bring in another forward before Saturday.

I've got some sort of idea of my best 11 but have not been able to play it yet although the door is always open for players to force their way into the line-up.

In terms of injuries and having pre-season disrupted we are not alone but I don't think there will have been too many clubs that have had the degree or volume of injuries we've experienced.

In terms of performances pre-season has been topsy-turvy with mixed results but attempts to achieve consistency have been disrupted by injuries.