Brett Whaley isn’t looking to make sweeping change to his Spalding United squad over the summer as he bids to turn them into promotion candidates.
The Tulips have beaten three of the Pitching In NPL Midlands Division’s top five teams since Whaley took the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field hotseat in December, but finished 20 points shy of the play-offs after being dogged by inconsistency.
Rather than starting from scratch, the Spalding supremo is looking to retain his entire squad for next season – while also looking to add more attacking prowess.
Whaley feels he has strong foundations to build upon and is very happy with his ‘back six’, but reckons there’s currently not enough goals in the team.
“I think the big positive I’ve taken from my time here is that we’ve mostly been very solid at the back,” said the Tulips’ chief. “Where we’ve struggled is creating and taking chances.
“You can see by some of the results we’ve had that this squad is capable of beating the best teams in what is a very strong league. But we’ve also struggled at times too.
“If you look at those sides that have finished up at the top, they’ve had great continuity over the past few years.
“I’m happy with the squad here and my first aim will be to keep this base group if they’re happy to stay.
“Obviously we’ll look to add a few faces, but I really don’t want to be ripping everything up and starting again.
“It’s clear that we’re not creative enough and that we don’t score enough, so that’s the area we’ll be looking to strengthen.”
Whaley believes that everyone at the Sir Halley has “learnt a lot” this season, but insists that the club remains ambitious and will be targeting promotion next time around.
He was also encouraged to hear that the players are already looking forward to next season, but admitted that he’ll not be getting any time off from his managerial duties.
Whaley added: “I’d say it’s been a difficult season for the club – but everybody has learnt a lot.
“The standard is very high in this league and it takes time to build a squad capable of challenging at the top.
“This is an ambitious club and we want to be pushing for promotion next season.
“The games might stop, but for me it’s now a case of spending a lot of time on my phone!
“The players are hungry to get back for next season. We need to improve, be much more consistent and the aim will be to progress up the table.”
Spalding finished with a very symmetrical record of 15 wins, 15 defeats and eights draws from their 38 games.
Their defensive record (56 conceded) was the third best outside of the top five, but their total of 47 goals scored was comfortably the worst in the top ten.
They only scored more than three goals in a game once – a 4-3 success over relegated Soham Town Rangers back in October.
