Dartford manager Ady Pennock won’t rush summer recruitment as he strives to sign players who align with the club’s values
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Dartford manager Ady Pennock isn’t worried by the lack of new faces at Princes Park.
The Darts are yet to announce a summer signing but that doesn’t mean Pennock hasn’t been doing plenty of groundwork in a bid to attract new talent to the club.
He’s happy to take his time and make sure players join Dartford for the right reasons, instead of splashing the cash now.
“The players that you want have always got four or five other clubs that want them as well,” explained Pennock.
“I’ve met people face to face at the famous coffee shop where I always tend to meet players - or I’ve taken them to the stadium and shown them our facilities.
“But it’s got to be right for the football club as well. We’ve got to get that balance right, financially, as well as getting the balance right in the changing room.
“We’ve got an amazing changing room here and I want to keep that right.
“It's 100 per cent a players’ market now. That’s why I don’t rush and force things. I want people that want to come to Dartford because they want to play for Dartford, not just come here for a ride.
“There’s a lot of players out there who are holding the cards at the moment.”
Once again, Pennock will treat the club’s budget as though he is spending his own cash - and he wants value for money.
“I knew the situation last year,” added Pennock. “It’s not a case of getting people in now.
“As I’ve said before, I see the budget as my money, I treat it as though it is my money. I won’t spend it willy-nilly; I’ve got to get it right.
“I’m not in any rush to do anything, maybe other people might think why are we not doing this or not doing that? I speak to Roland (Edge, assistant manager) every single day, we’ve got players in mind that we think will help us and his input is really important to me as well.
“We can tinker with the squad and get the right players in, then you never know what is going to happen next season.
“It’s going to be a tough league. There’s no easy games in football, it makes me laugh when people say we’ve got this team away from home today so that will be three points - if only it was that easy, we’d all be doing the pools!
“There’s going to be some really big games, there’s some big teams, but we’ll respect every single team and every single opponent that we come up against.”
Striker Eddie Dsane, who scored 11 goals last season after featuring predominantly as a substitute, has signed a new deal with the club.
Dartford have confirmed the departures of goalkeeper Jacob Marsden, forward Duane Ofori-Acheampong and Tyler Christian-Law.
The Darts will host newly-promoted Charlton in a pre-season friendly on Saturday, July 12.
There are also home matches against League 2 Gillingham on Saturday, July 26 and National League South neighbours Ebbsfleet on Saturday, August 2.
Darts also host Eastbourne on July 19 with trips to Herne Bay on July 22 and Faversham Town on July 29.
“Our friendly games have always been tough,” said Pennock. “I don’t think you get anything out of winning a game 10-0 or 12-0 if you’re playing a team four leagues lower.
“I like to play teams above us, we’ve got to look after the club as well so playing the likes of Charlton and Gillingham will bring in some much-needed money.
“We’re playing Ebbsfleet this year so that should be a good game. The other games will be tough, they’re against teams a division above or below us.
“I’m not worried about the results or people saying you’ve got to win every single pre-season game. It’s about that first match of the league season and going on from there.”
