New Stokesley manager Monty Alexander is hoping that some of last season’s players will still want to appear for the club in the new season.

Alexander, who was at Wearside League neighbours New Marske last season, pipped two other managers with Northern League experience for the rebuilding job at Broughton Road, following the departure of previous boss Ted Watts on the last day of the season..

None of last season’s players signed the block registration form in April, which means that Alexander has to start completely from scratch, although he could sign some players from his old club.

“The club had 38 players registered last season, so where are they now?” he said. “They can’t all have gone to other Northern League clubs. The door is open for them to still play for the club and to play first division football, hopefully some of them might still want to. I can’t believe that they’ve all walked out and fixed themselves up with new clubs. They can give me a ring, and we can have a chat. The club doesn’t have any contact details for them, so it’s not as if we can ring them.

“I want to give this job my best shot. The main aim this season is to make sure we finish above the bottom three, and keep the club in the first division. Yes, the playing budget is low compared to other clubs in the first division, but I haven’t had a budget before, so that doesn’t bother me! I was at New Marske for four years without a budget, and we beat teams above us who had big budgets. We finished third in the league, which wasn’t bad.

“Even though I’ve been managing in the Wearside league, I know the Northern League in that it’s local football, and I know many of the players at clubs in the Teesside area.”

Alexander, who managed Carlin How in the Teesside League before going to New Marske, has appointed Craig Gibbin, who has plenty of Northern League playing experience, and Mark Harkin, who was with Guisborough last season, as his backroom staff.

Alexander can be contacted on 07727 097294