Dover Athletic boss believes he will be in charge of club in National League South next term

Andy Hessenthaler wants to stay at Crabble. Image credit: Ian Scammell

Boss Andy Hessenthaler believes he will be in charge at Dover Athletic despite no formal meeting to discuss the future and admitted, “it will be good to be competitive again on a level playing field”.

The Whites chief still has aims this season in the National League and said, “we will go all the way to the end making it difficult for teams” while in the meantime, he hopes a meeting can take place with chairman Jim Parmenter and knows that needs to happen at some stage in the coming weeks.

After winning their first game of the season against Eastleigh, Dover lost 1-0 to Southend United on Saturday in another frustrating afternoon.

And Hessenthaler leads his men into battles at leaders Stockport County this weekend, a daunting prospect in front of what promises to be a 10,000-plus crowd.

On his future he said: “We [with Parmenter] haven’t really sat down but obviously we need to look to next season and we have got to start thinking about it. As far as I’m concerned he wants me to stay next season and we have to start planning for that.

“We have had a rough couple of years and nobody envisaged what would happen with the pandemic.

“It’s been tough for me, the players the chairman the fans, it’s been hard for everybody. Decisions were made and the one thing I’ve always said is we have a football club going forward.

“For now, we still have 18 games to go and what we want to do is make sure we have a say in clubs who are in a relegation battle and teams who are fighting for play-offs and promotion. “Credit to the lads they are doing that they are performing and making it difficult for teams.

“We are also still in the minuses [minus five points] and I’m certain we can get into the plusses and that’s another aim for us to try and win a few more games.”

Hessenthaler added: “We want to compete week in, week out and try and win football matches on a level playing field. Next season [National League South] it will certainly will be more of one. Fans want to come and see their teams win matches. Unfortunately that hasn’t happened, only the once.

“I’ve got to say the fans over the last few weeks have been phenomenal and really appreciated the position we are in. They could have downed tools but they haven’t done that.”

Dover Athletic play in Dover, Kent.