Strongest squad for years says boss

SOUTHPORT manager Liam Watson believes the club will head into the 2020/21 season with the strongest squad in several years.

Depending on the outcome of a National League board meeting today (Thursday) the club’s National League North campaign is due to begin on October 6 when Hereford visit the Pure Stadium.

After Watson and the entire squad had been placed on furlough in March, the ’Port boss has gone about diligently building an 18 man squad which he believes has the right attributes to be successful in the league.

For Southport, pre-season has often meant a new manager building an entirely new squad but Watson is now in the third year of his third spell as manager and believes the stability has been vital both on and off the pitch.

The playing budget is radically reduced from the Phil Hodgkinson era but Watson is confident that this is best squad the club has started a season with since his last departure in 2013.

His current stint has seen him working hard alongside majority shareholder Ian Kyle and club secretary James Tedford to help the club on and off the pitch and Watson told the Visiter: “The club needs stability, it needs the fans more than ever.

“We’ve tried to go about it the right way, we’ve tried to get our heads down and go about it quietly. I’ve watched more football in the last 18 months than ever before.”

New signings for this season include returning defender Matt Challoner, Southport-born Jack Bainbridge, and Somali international Mo Ali, as well as Dylan Vassallo, Marcus Carver and Niall Watson.

The manager said: “If you look at the whole squad, we’ve got 18 players who are all the right age, all local, all here for the right reasons.”

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