Prior deal one ‘we had to get across the line’
Chief executive Stuart Munro insisted securing Jason Prior's Hawks' return was a deal the club 'had to get across the line' after learning of his availability this summer.
Hawks wasted no time in capturing the striker, who previously enjoyed successive title-winning campaigns in his two seasons at Westleigh Park, just days after he confirmed his Dorking Wanderers departure.
The 33-year-old left the Surrey side, where he spent four years, following their National League South playoff glory earlier this month as he was unable to commit to the additional travel requirements at the top tier of nonleague football.
Despite both Munro and Hawks boss Paul Doswell being away on off-season holidays when news broke of Prior's Dorking exit, the club acted quickly in an attempt to persuade the striker to return to his old stomping ground.
It was a move which paid off with Prior agreeing a oneyear deal with an option just two days after his Wanderers departure became public.
And Munro believes Hawks have acquired a striker with many qualities to offer other than just his undoubted goalscoring prowess.
‘When you've got the CV that Jason has got, it was too good a chance for us to miss, really,’ said Munro. ‘Especially with what he did previously at the football club, how he gets on and the rapport he's got with the fans, it was something we feel we had to get across the line as soon as possible because I know he had a lot of offers on the table.
‘We're very, very pleased. What Jason will bring to the club is not just hopefully goals, he'll bring leadership, physicality, experience.
‘We think that he's still got a few years left in him and we think he's got a few goals left in him. He knows how to get out of the division, he's got that experience, we think he will help some of our younger players.
'We've probably now got four or five leaders in the team which I know Paul wants. We've been talking a lot, Paul, myself and Derek (Pope, chairman), we're pleased to get it over the line (Prior deal).’
During a successful previous spell at the club having arrived from Bognor in the summer of 2016, Prior lifted the Isthmian League Premier and National League South titles back-to-back under former boss Lee Bradbury
His previous stint is sure to have helped Hawks' hierarchy in getting the striker to return, but Munro recognised the club had no time to waste with undoubted interest from elsewhere in a player who now has won four non-league career promotions.
He added: ‘I got a call earlier from Paul (Doswell) - he's away and I was away - to say that Jason wasn't re-signing for Dorking because they'd gone up to the National League, so basically the same reason he left here when he didn't want to play in the National League because of the travelling.
‘We put our heads together very quickly and we agreed a deal with Jason.’
Portsmouth-born Prior started his adult career with Moneyfields in the late noughties before going to have a brief EFL spell with AFC Wimbledon.