Margate kick off their BetVictor Premier Division campaign on Saturday with a home game with Brightlingsea Regent – a game that boss Jay Saunders is looking forward to after his side had the near perfect pre-season.

“We’re as ready for the start of the League as we can be,” Saunders told KSN this week.

“We’ve had a good pre-season and it’s nice to have a home game to start as we try to get the first three points as early as possible. It’s nice that we can focus on a home start during pre-season rather than thinking we’ve got a tough away trip – not that I’m saying that Brightlingsea are going to be easy.”

“We all like home advantage opening day – we’ve had a lot of home games in the warm up that were arranged when I wasn’t here. We’ve had a good record so here’s hoping that we can take that forward into the League.”

“We’ve almost a completely new squad so I guess that by playing so many at home, they’ll hopefully be adjusted to the conditions as let’s face it, if you’re going to be successful, the home form normally forms an important part of any success.”

“I would have liked a few away games but the big positive is that we’ve gone unbeaten during pre-season, although anyone will tell you that come Saturday afternoon pre-season counts for nothing.”

“I’m excited by the squad that we’ve put together – we look very good going forward which is the opposite to when I took over when I thought we struggled for goals as we were third lowest scorers in the final table!”

“That was something I wanted to address and so we’ve brought in the likes of Jack Richards, Kudus Oyenuga, Kadell Daniel, Adem Ramadan, Noel Leighton and we’ve got real good attacking options.”

“So, for me, going forward we look a real threat in pre-season and hopefully we can take that into the season. Defensively we’ve looked good too bringing in Dan Johnson who alongside Ben Swift has looked very good.”

“For me, we’re looking quite solid but we’re still looking for midfielders as we’ve lost three – one through injury and two because of being unable to commit – and that’s an area that we’re still working on and probably will all the way up to the weekend!”

Margate is of course one of the Kent sides that Saunders himself graced with some distinction at arguably the most successful period in the Club’s history in the 1990s.

“You can see the hardcore support is still here from when I played here in the club’s heady days – if we’re having a good season, I’m sure that the crowds will go up and up as it’s been a long time since really there was that consistent success.”

“We had the days when money was thrown at it and spent, and we’ve seen the ups and downs since, but I think now there’s more stability at the Club.”

“When I took over, I said that I’d like there to be more of a relationship between players and fans. I think it’s been tough for the fans as so many players have come and gone so frequently as the fans have had no-one to get used to.”

“Hopefully those bonds will start as it’s a club that has got a massive potential as I remember taking Maidstone to Hartsdown the year we won the Ryman Premier and the crowd was massive that night!”

“So, the support is there and it’s just a case of giving the supporters something to be excited about which will hopefully start Saturday!”