New Faversham joint-manager John Embery is calling on the best young players in the area to join the club as he vows to give youth a chance.

Embery and Jermaine Darlington were appointed as Town’s new management duo to replace James Collins.

It completes a reshuffle from the top down at Salters Lane after both Collins and chairman Paul Bennett left this summer, former player Gary Smart having taken over as chairman.

“In a short period of time, the club has gone from having an uncertain future to having a new board and [a vision] they have sold to us - they want to progress the youth,” explained Embery.

“If we have people from Faversham in the team, then their families come as well. That brings more interest.

“We played with the youngest side in the Isthmian League at Herne Bay.

“So the best young lads should play with me and Jermaine because they’ll get a chance.”

Teenage midfielder Benedict Bioletti came through the ranks with the Lilywhites and impressed for the first-team in the 2021/22 season. He went on trial with League 2 Colchester having first joined Faversham, aged five.

Embery hopes other young Faversham players are inspired to follow in Bioletti’s footsteps, saying: “It gives the other kids hope. Football takes all sorts of strange twists and turns.

“One minute you are playing for the under-23s, then you get two games in front of a scout for the first-team, play a blinder and then your whole life changes.”

Embery and Darlington have been out of the game for three years since leaving Herne Bay.

“It’s nice to be back,” Embery admitted. “It [Faversham] has always been one of those clubs that has had high regard in the Isthmian League.

“I know the last couple of years have not been that productive but it’s a good, family club.

“Now the new board and me and Jermaine have come in, and that cannot do anything other than drive the club forward.

“The board are ambitious, they want to push on. Their long-term plan is to get promoted.

“The way we want to play football, hopefully, will be exciting for everyone. We have not been involved in running a first-team for a while so that’s nice.”

The new bosses ran the rule over the squad at a training session on Tuesday.

“We had a light training session on Tuesday where we spoke to them,” revealed Embery.

“We needed to see who we are going to keep and who not to keep.

“It’s all right keeping them but they have to believe in what we are trying to do.

“But there’s a good bunch. I know Matt Bourne, he’s a club stalwart. He puts his body and neck on the line. People like him are a dying breed.

“Hopefully Matt wants to stay and he can be part of things with us.”

Embery, dad of striker Jake Embery who has signed for Steve McKimm’s Carshalton, left Herne Bay alongside Darlington in 2019.

Since then, though, Bay have been taken over and promoted to Isthmian Premier under Ben Smith.

But Embery had nothing but good words to say about his former club.

He stated: “We don’t have to prove ourselves to anyone. We took the youngest team ever recorded and finished top-half of the table.

“The thing that happened at Herne Bay was a lack of funding.

“But it’s great that they have turned themselves around now, I’m really pleased for them that they got promoted.”