Published: Thursday, 4th June, 2009 3:00pm

Bateman upbeat about switch

by Patrick Corlett

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Football

SLOUGH Town Steve Bateman is very upbeat about the club"s switch to the Southern League Division 1 Midlands and is targeting a top five challenge.

Having already taken Hemel Hempstead Town up from that division and managed Chesham United in it he knows the opposing clubs and players very well.

Given his knowledge and contacts, Bateman is confident that he can assemble a squad to mount a serious top five challenge next season.

He said: 'I"m positive, very positive. As each has gone by as I sit there and digest the clubs involved and what I know about them and the players it"s good.

'Three out of the top four sides have gone out of the division, two promoted and one sideways to the Unibond, it leaves Atherstone (Town) who have sacked their manager and it looks as though a number of their players will move on as well.

'It"s wiped out the top sides, you look at it and fancy your chances. Of course Chesham will be a decent outfit. I don"t expect it to be easy. Hitchin Town have come down and will be licking their wounds, hoping to go straight back up. It looks like Beaconsfield will be renamed Burnham next year, they will be a decent side again.

'Lets see if we can put together a squad that can be competitive. It"s a league I"ve got out of before with Hemel (Hempstead Town) so I know what it takes.

'We will enter it looking to be very, very competitive. The target for me is to get into those play-offs,' stated Bateman. 'If we can hit the ground running and get a lot of points on the board early on then you start to think about can you take it automatically but there is a lot of hard work we need to do, even just in pre-season.'

The Rebels supremo is hopeful that with the switch to the Midlands Division, he can attract fresh blood to the squad.

'From my perspective there"s a couple of people I"ve chatted to and there was a reluctance to be in South West because of the travel and all of a sudden the phone is ringing more now we"re in the Midlands,' he explained.

'I"ve been sowing a number of seeds, there"s people I"ve spoken to and now it"s settled down more we shall see.

'It just means we are on the western front of the league but it opens up a corridor, one that I know very well.

'Now it is all about nailing down a few signatures.

'Some of the players we"ve targeted the announcement helps. It"s negated the barrier that might have been there, certainly for two or three players who are looking to come and join us.

'You can only be 100 per cent certain unless a player is contracted. People will be in demand and targeted by clubs higher up. It"s something I will look at and speak to the chairman about.

'The dream that I am selling them is one that I believe and I know they will believe me,' said Bateman.

'I don"t expect to lose anybody from our current squad because of travelling, they are comfortable with where they have to go.

'It might put a bit of a strain on supporters but they will get to see new grounds, new places.'

Along with Slough moving to the Midlands, Burnham and Beaconsfield SYCOB have also gone with them but Windsor stay in the Southern League Division 1 South & West.

'It is disappointing to lose Windsor in the division, it"s always been a competitive fixture and played in the right spirit,' said Bateman.