Manager Danny Searle’s qualities proved a perfect fit for Ebbsfleet.

That’s the verdict of Fleet chief executive Damian Irvine, who was reflecting on the impact that Searle had in a short space of time at Stonebridge Road since replacing Dennis Kutrieb at the start of February.

The former Aldershot boss took charge of Ebbsfleet with the club staring relegation in the face. But Searle immediately injected confidence into the players and the Fleet secured safety on the final day of last season.

“Danny’s biggest asset in coming into the role I found was his openness and directness,” said Irvine.

“He’s a fair manager, would be my first impression and that was very much needed coming into a group that was quite shocked by the change, we all were, and probably shocked by the position we found ourselves in to make the change.

“He instilled some one-on-one confidence with people that helped. By definition, he enjoyed the benefit of being an outsider into the group because the thing with Dennis, this club and the playing group is that we were very tight, the whole club, a really tight-knit family.

“When that self-doubt and poor results slipped in, we all suffered together and that can become quite intrinsic and self-facing, and I said it at the time, a new voice from the outside that can tell you that you are quite good, you do have good technical ability, you do have a good squad, that was the key.

“Danny, through circumstances, had the gift of that when he came in as he was a new voice, and his qualities are that he was able to use that in a humble way, a way that was open and brought the players in.

“His flexibility and experience as a coach, in Czech Republic, Ireland and also the National League was another big asset that really helped. He probably didn’t have time to create his own DNA on the squad and how he wanted to play.

“He’s got a big summer now where he knows a lot of the players and we’ll be bringing new players in as well which is a really good opportunity for Danny and the club.”

A number of players have already been retained from Ebbsfleet’s squad for the coming season, which gets under way on August 10.

The latest confirmed retention was Greg Cundle, and Irvine believes the group of players will be better for their experience at National League level last term.

“It doesn’t matter what level you’ve been promoted from and into, the mark of great footballers and athletes is being able to get your mind right and confidence, getting self-doubt out of the equation as we all face it at times,” he added.

“If you’re in the Masters golf and you just double bogey a hole, you need to get your head right pretty quick for the next tee and par or better the next hole.

“As footballers that’s a big thing and we probably underestimated the weight of self-doubt after a string of losses in September and October could probably affect confidence.

“Now, a great deal of those players have got a new belief and a new sense of self-belief as they’ve been able to demonstrate and impact matches at the level above, in the National League.

“That’s something only that season in the league can provide, you can’t tell them, it’s only the experience that can provide it and that goes for the staff as well.

“We’ll be far better off for having that confidence instilled that we are good enough in the league, it doesn’t matter how much we romped the South and all of that, there was always that question of can we make the step up and we saw that before Christmas with the lack of confidence.

“Now that it’s been proven that we can, and the players have proven that themselves, they’ve done that job, I think we’ll be far better suited next year.”