Lloyd Blackman is embracing a busy yet smooth start to his time as Whitstable Town manager.

The Oystermen have retained six players from last season’s squad so far – Dan Eason, Tom Bryant, Taylor Fisher, John Walker, Connor Sanders and Harry Stannard.

They have meanwhile bid farewell to both Stuart West and Stephen Smith, the latter of whom had agreed to extend his stay at the Belmont before signing for Ramsgate earlier this week.

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“It’s been a pretty hectic two or three weeks,” admitted Blackman. “It’s enjoyable but I’ve certainly had my ear glued to the phone.

“He (Smith) received an offer he absolutely couldn’t refuse and I wish him all the best. There are still another two or three I have made approaches to.

“It’s a difficult situation, I don’t want to go in there and completely disrupt things because the lads that were in there last season did fantastically well.

“You are working with budgets, there are things you need to chop and change a little bit, but I’ve been in contact with all the players and had a really good chat with all of them.

“We know where we are and hopefully we’ll get some more deals done soon.

“They were all very keen to stay, that was really pleasing. There has been no negative phone call so far which has been really encouraging.

“A couple of players we’re still trying to sort out, which I understand.

“I’ve been a player myself, I know how things work in this game. We’re very pleased to have the players that have agreed to stay so early on in the pre-season.

“To be perfectly honest they were players I identified straight away which was really pleasing. They’ve told me that they’re looking forward to it.

“I outlined my plans to those players to let them know where I stood and how I would operate and what I would demand.

“They’ve been as good as gold with it. The fact I was able to be in and around with Scott (manager Scott Porter) towards the end of last season as well has given me a good chance to get to know the players fairly well.”

Whitstable showed no hesitation in strengthening their squad upon the end of the season, signing Jake McKenzie, Luke Girt and Osman Proni.

Blackman said: “Really pleased to have three players signed pretty much straight away. They were really keen to get on board as soon as possible.

“Jake McKenzie I know and worked with at Ramsgate last year, it’s really pleasing to have a lad of his quality.

“As a right-back he’s been outstanding, I knew there were a few clubs after him as well so that was a nice one to get.

“Luke Girt was over at Sheppey, he left me at Ramsgate when he had a change in work. We spoke and he said work had died down a little bit now and again he wanted to join straight away.

“The young lad Osman Proni is a really technically gifted attacking midfielder. We played against him last year when he was at Sevenoaks and was really impressed with him. He didn't get as many minutes as he'd have probably liked towards the end of the season so the opportunity to get him in and give him an opportunity is one I'm looking forward to. He's a really talented footballer.”

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