GAFFER KEVIN: MY PLAYERS WILL HANDLE THE PRESSURE

AFC TELFORD United manager Kev Wilkin says coping with the demands of an expectant fanbase will be critical to the club’s chances of success this season.

- Chris Dunlavy

Last term’s 1-0 defeat to Leamington in the Southern Premier Central play-off final condemned the Bucks to a second successive season at Step 3.

It is unfamiliar – not to mention unwelcome – territory for a club who have spent the majority of their 20-year existence in Non-League’s top two tiers and routinely attract four-figure gates.

Nothing less than promotion will suffice this term and Wilkin admits it is a subject he has addressed with his players ahead of the upcoming campaign.

“The size of club that Telford is, there’s always expectation to do well,” says the 56-yearold, who managed Nuneaton and Wrexham prior to becoming Brackley boss in 2015.

“That doesn’t matter whether you’re at Step 3, Step 2 or the National League. There’s always that pressure to be at the sharp end of things.

“It can be difficult to keep the natives happy and content sometimes, but it’s only right. You need that to drive everybody and give everything a bit of an edge. Nobody plays football just to make the numbers up