by Craig Tucker

Jim Ward has hit out after Nick Davis snubbed Sittingbourne in favour of a move to Faversham Town.

Co-manager Ward is expecting up to 40 players when Brickies start pre-season training on Tuesday.

Central defender Davis was set to be one of them but joined Ryman League Division 1 South rivals Faversham at the last minute.

Ward (pictured) said: "I’m not happy with Nick Davis. He told me he was signing for Sittingbourne, then he changed his mind at the last minute and went to Faversham.

"He played for me at Maidstone and Ramsgate but I only want people who want to be here."

Ward has vowed to play exciting football in a bid to push up the league and get fans through the turnstiles.

But players can forget about the ‘beautiful game’ for the next couple of weeks.

Ward said: "There won’t be a ball in sight at our first three training sessions – it’s all about running and fitness.

"The phone hasn’t stopped ringing since me and Danny (Ward, co-manager) took over. We’re looking at 40 players if everyone turns up who says they’ll be there. I hope some of them stay away!

"Once the balls come out, we’ll be working on passing teams to death and being hard to beat. We want the fans to come back and the best way to do that is to win games.

"Nobody will come to Bourne Park and take the mickey out of us. If they don’t give us the respect we deserve, they’ll get beaten.

"We’re certainly not here to mess about. Sittingbourne are a big club and they shouldn’t be finishing third bottom of the league.

"We’ve fallen behind the other Kent clubs in terms of results, budget and supporters and it’s time to put that right. We brought success to Maidstone and Ramsgate quickly.

"It won’t be easy because we’re going in a bit blind and we haven’t got long to work out the quality of player we have. But we’ll be giving it everything to bring success to Sittingbourne."

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