With just one defeat from 40 League games, over a century of goals and 100 points, Chertsey Town swept to the Isthmian League South Central title last term.
They made their mark in more ways than one with Chairman, Mark Turner, and manager, Mark Harper, working together in harmony, just as they did when they were players for the club back in the 1990s.
“I was managing in the Conference South with Hampton & Richmond Borough, but when that ended, I decided to take a bit of time out of the game to spend with my family,” Mark Harper told us. “When I started to get the urge to get back involved again, I initially helped out a friend at Spelthorne Sports FC and it led to Mark [Turner] reaching out.
“We were able to rekindle the association we had at the club as players and it also allowed me to finally work together with Scott Tarr, a friend of over 30 years, and someone who I’ve had many conversations about working with over those years.
“Along with coaches Andy Viney, Paul McArthy, Shaun McAuley and Dave Read, we were able to form a strong backroom team to support an extremely talented playing staff that served the club so well over the course of last season.
“If we’re being totally honest, last term went much better than expected. We had to more or less completely rebuild the squad from the previous campaign and whilst we started reasonably well, it was the defeat at Raynes Park Vale in mid-September which proved so hard to take and made us even more determined to be successful.
“It proved to be our only League defeat of the season as our winning attitude and character really came to the fore and led us to the title and promotion into Step 3.
“It really was a memorable season for us all and now we look forward to the challenge that stands ahead in the Pitching In Southern League Premier South.
“Most of the lads have played at this level before, so they are back where they deserve to be. We’ve also been able to enhance the squad with more experience from the level that we are going in to and our expectation is to give the best account of ourselves as possible.
“It’s a tough League with clubs who have been in it for a while and from the levels above, so we will have to be ‘on it’ for every game.
“We’ve set the lads targets of being in and around the play-off mix going into the final third of the season, and if we can do that, then who knows? We will hopefully go about our business in a quiet and efficient manner, but we are under no illusions about how tough it will be.
“There are some big clubs involved but we’ll be doing everything we can to compete. We don’t have one set way of playing here; we have the flexibility within the squad to change the shape and personnel depending on the task in hand, whilst us allowing us to be free-flowing and entertaining.”
You can ‘mark’ our words that the Surrey outfit will be giving it their all and we welcome them into the Southern League family.
IMAGE: Chertsey Town FC
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