Ebbsfleet boss Steve Brown accepts the club may not shake off their ‘mini-Monaco’ tag during the course of The Skrill South season.

Brown’s management career kicks off this weekend when Fleet host Havant & Waterlooville on the opening day at Stonebridge Road.

Priced second-favourites by bookmakers to win the league, Ebbsfleet’s summer takeover by Kuwaiti investors has attracted plenty of nationwide publicity.

Brown said: “There’s a misconception out there that we’re the Monaco of non-league and it seems to be sticking.

“I can’t do anything about that. All I can tell people is that we want to compete, we want to be a team that is gunning for promotion and we will try our best to do that.

“I’ve got enough good players here to push for promotion but in terms of getting them to play my way and the philosophy that we’ll put into the team, it doesn’t happen in seven or eight weeks.

“There is huge anticipation and lots of excitement. I can’t wait to get going.There’s nothing like the competitive edge of league games and it seems to have taken a long time to get here.”

Brown will probably go into the Havant clash without striker Ben May, who is still struggling with a back injury. But Stevenage loanee Michael Thalassitis has returned from international duty with Cyprus under-21s and should partner Billy Bricknell.