Next summer may be the "natural" time for Dartford to start daytime training, says co-chairman Steve Irving.

Darts have talked about the switch for a few years but all the time they’ve stayed in National League South it’s made more sense to stay part-time.

Club captain Elliot Bradbrook is just one player who couldn’t train in the day because of his job but with promotion a real possibility this season, discussions have resumed.

Going full-time is essential if Dartford want to be sustainable and competitive in the National League and now that big move seems closer than ever.

Mr Irving said: "We’re perhaps a year or so behind the strategy we set.

"The plan was to achieve not only stability in the National League and get back there but also to go down the route of whatever you call the model nowadays, whether it’s semi-professional, part-time or whatever.

"This daytime training that so many clubs are doing is the way forward and we will move to that when we feel it’s right.

"Doing that causes such disruption within your squad that, if we’d gone up this year, we wouldn’t have kept all 12 players that signed straight away.

"It’s been well publicised the sort of players that would have left because of work constraints where they’re in reasonably good jobs and wouldn’t want the full-time training.

"We’re still on course for what we want to do and the natural progression may be that next season is the year for that to happen, with one or two players perhaps reaching that point in their careers where they’ll naturally finish."

It will be the end of an era when Bradbrook, Ryan Hayes, Lee Noble and Danny Harris hang up their boots.

Mr Irving said: "It’s been quite a rarity in football that we’ve had so many players that have spent so long with us.

"For Lee Noble, it’ll be his 10th season, Ryan Hayes his 13th, Elliot his ninth and Danny Harris the same.

"There’s not many clubs that can call upon that sort of experience.

"Not many clubs could have done what we’ve done in the 11 years we’ve been at Princes Park, to progress to the level we’re at.

"We’ve been slightly higher and we’ll get back there but it will be a massive change over the next couple of seasons."