Kendal Town have appointed six scouts as they look to the future – whatever their league destination next season.
The Mintcakes are deep in relegation trouble, 16 points adrift and next to bottom of NPL West with Market Drayton three points behind them.
Chairman Michael O’Neill said: “It was something we were looking to do, wherever we found ourselves and proved a very useful exercise.
“There was quite a lot of interest and after a meeting, we have six scouts in place – one from Carlisle, one from Barrow and a third from Preston with the others from our own locality around Kendal.
“We are essentially looking at reconstructing the club which will have three main teams – the first team, reserves and under-18s. We have already applied to join the Lancashire League next season with the reserves.
“I think in the main the scouts will be looking to recommend players for next pre-season so that we can look at them and get things in place for the 2022/23 season.”
The new board inherited a fair amount of debt that they hadn’t expected to have to deal with.
O’Neill explained: “Most of it was money owed to local people and that just wasn’t on so we have put regular payments into place and that debt is reducing all the time.
“We decided that needed to be done, even if it impacted on plans to strengthen the squad.
“There were also serious concerns that our Parkside ground would not pass its yearly inspection at the end of March. There were 13 points that needed to be attended to.
“I’m really pleased to say the response from local people has been tremendous. Even if they couldn’t provide money they have been giving their time and professional skills so that most of the boxes have been ticked.
“We also decided as a club to stick behind our manager Dave Woodruff for the rest of the season. He was reluctant to take the job on a permanent basis but will be in charge for the next two months at least.”
Kendal put up a gritty performance in a 3-1 defeat on Saturday at Clitheroe and have a very tough test this weekend when they host Warrington Rylands, who have just moved ahead of Workington on goal difference at the top of the table.
