Chairman Josh Healey admits Folkestone are going through a season of transition - but hasn’t given up on their play-off prospects after naming Andy Drury as their new manager.

Drury has been appointed as the Isthmian Premier club’s successor to joint-head coaches Micheal Everitt and Roland Edge. Having previously been player-coach, Sittingbourne-born Drury now takes charge of a side who are just above the relegation zone.

While Mr Healey accepts the short-term goal is to start climbing the table, he has vowed to give former Whitstable and Margate boss Drury extra backing if he can get them in with a shout of a top-five finish.

“This season is about transition,” Mr Healey said.

“As I said in my statement on Saturday, ultimately we still want to push for the play-offs. But I appreciate there’s probably a bit of a lack of confidence within the team at the moment and we want to steer ourselves away from the relegation zone.

“Let’s see where we are in 10 or 12 games. If we are in that sixth, seventh or eighth position, Andy will get the full backing from us to get an extra player or two to maybe get us in there.

“But in football, there’s no guarantees with anything.”

The appointment of Drury was revealed last Saturday, hours ahead of Folkestone’s 1-0 loss at home to Bognor Regis. The visitors netted early on after a mistake by goalkeeper Joe Coleman.

Mr Healey revealed Invicta’s board had been in discussions with various applicants before they offered former Football League midfielder Drury the manager’s role, and he also gave an insight into the level of debt the club are presently dealing with.

The chairman explained: “We actually did have an extensive list who we went out and spoke to. The majority of them are in positions so some clubs refused that (permission to speak) and some didn’t.

“We had some good conversations but it was more a timing situation for those managers - without naming names obviously - and in the interim period, Andy began at Dulwich. He had put himself in the hat and presented a plan to myself and others.

“What he said was that he wanted the opportunity and it felt the fair thing to do, given the time of year we’re at.

“With the right support and backing, he can certainly get us up the league.

“The club is going through such a big transition period at the moment. The club has got a fair bit of debt.

“I’m not going to go into the exact number, but it’s probably two or three times larger than it had back in its CVA (Company Voluntary Agreement) days, so there’s a lot of restructuring going on off the field.

“Naturally, we felt we needed a bit of restructuring on the field, too, and hopefully Dukes is the man to do that.

“He’s got my full backing.”

Drury has helped Invicta secure 3G pitch training facilities at Kedbull Leisure in Ebbsfleet this winter. The firm which runs the site is part-owned by Chatham player-assistant Danny Kedwell - one of Drury’s close friends.

“Every Tuesday and Thursday evening we now have got facilities guaranteed up until the end of the season,” said Mr Healey.

“Obviously in Folkestone we don’t have any training facilities - other than our pitch - and we don’t have a 3G pitch.

“We’re into the time of year where you can’t necessarily train there every time because you potentially could be putting the game in jeopardy for the weekend.

“Getting those facilities in a more central area in Kent to attract players from all over the region, not just the local area, is good because Ebbsfleet borders London and, from Folkestone, it takes about 35 or 40 minutes to get to.

“In terms of attracting players to the club, that should help.”

Drury is already working hard to assemble his backroom staff, and the appointment of his No.2 could be imminent.

Mr Healey said: “He has got two or three names. Andy only got given the job at the back-end of last week, so he’s really hit the ground running. Hopefully, that’ll be announced by the end of this week.”

Invicta’s next home match is against Cray Wanderers - where Drury served as player-assistant - this Saturday.

The new boss intends to watch Neil Smith’s Wands’ home game against Whitehawk tonight as he also looks to bolster his own squad’s ranks.

Mr Healey added: “There are going to be a couple of players in this week but maybe not the numbers we ideally want because, naturally, they’re at other clubs.”

Drury, 40 this week, has regularly played for Folkestone this term.

While Mr Healey expects he will take to the pitch against Cray, he’s unsure that will be the long-term plan.

He said: “He will probably play himself this weekend. But I think long term, he wants to be in the dugout and leading the 15 or 16-man squad on the pitch.

“He was actually 40 on Tuesday.”