Manager Keith Bird has already been imparting his knowledge on recently-appointed Canterbury City chairman Trevor James.

The Southern Counties East Premier Division outfit have entered a new era, with long-serving Tim Clark having been replaced by businessman James as chairman.

Also stepping down are treasurer Keith Vaughan and director Keith Longley, who have been replaced by secretary Richie Moore, Bird and Kerry Barnham, who joins the board as commercial director.

Bird, a former chairman of Holmesdale, is now a director - as well as manager - and he is looking forward to being part of the new-look board.

He said: “I was really grateful to Holmesdale for letting me be their chairman, prior to me coming to Canterbury.

"It definitely rounded out my football experience.

“Obviously I have been involved in football as a player, coach and manager for a long time but to actually be on the board of a football club and be the chairman gave me another side to look at. Looking at it from the other side of the table was invaluable to me.

“I have also been able to impart some of that onto Trevor, as well, because - like many chairmen - it’s the first time he’s been chairman of a football club.

“He has been involved in many other things before, both in terms of business and charitable activities. But this is his first time as chairman of a football club.

“I have been able to impart a little bit of what I learnt as chairman at Holmesdale and, hopefully, that has been useful to him.

"We have been developing a really good partnership in a short space of time.

“But other members of the board like Richie Moore, who is our club secretary, have just done an incredible job over the last year or two when the previous board members found their time becoming more and more limited in terms of what they could do for the club.

“Richie has been incredible, keeping the club going and having various discussions to help us get to this point.

“The time he has put in has been phenomenal and he’s going to be a valuable member going forward.

“Hopefully we can give a bit more help and support.”

City have revealed James contributed financially during the 2021/22 season and Bird hopes to help put together a plan alongside the rest of the board so the club can return to playing in Canterbury for the first time since 1999 at some stage.

“We are really excited about some of the announcements we are going to make in the next week or two about signings,” revealed Bird who thanked the departing board members for their services.

“This Saturday is the first time we will have everybody in for our first pre-season session. Then we will be announcing signings over the next week or two after that.

“But we are really excited about what we are putting together and the players who are going to sign.

"I think it looks really good.”

One player who will not be at City when they begin ground-sharing with Isthmian South East Sittingbourne is midfielder Danny Lawrence, who has left to become Herne Bay’s new under-18s manager.

Bird said: “Losing someone like Danny Lawrence would be a loss to any side with what he brings in terms of his experience playing in non-league football, but also what he brought in terms of supporting me as player-assistant manager.

“He supported me in the changing room and with team selection. Him and Sam Wilson were the interim [managers] for three games between me and the previous manager.

"Both Danny and Sam did a great job, keeping the squad together on a reduced budget.

“We worked with the same squad and helped develop it - only making two signings from when I took over - so the guys did a great job.

“Danny was immense in the changing room but was also immense on the field.

"He was consistently one of our best players in most of the games and very often was going out there playing injured.

“He is a very strong player and he was a natural leader on the pitch. That’s why, at our end-of-season presentation awards, I gave Danny manager’s player-of-the-season because I thought he was immense for us as a club.

“Danny has, obviously, taken a bit of time to decide what he wants to do and has decided to go to manage Herne Bay’s under-18s.

"He has got a good reputation at Herne Bay and I wish him all the best.”