BANBURY United manager Mark Jones sees striking options as a key priority this summer as he gets to work with his new side.
Jones was announced as the new Puritans boss on June 5, agreeing a one-year contract.
The former Oxford City boss replaced Andy Whing, who resigned on May 22 after leading Banbury to a historic promotion and then highest league finish.
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Ex-Oxford United defender Whing helped the Puritans win the Southern League Premier Central title by 23 points, before finishing 17th in Vanarama National League North during the 2022/23 campaign.
Key players part of the recent success at Banbury such as skipper Giorgio Rasulo, plus Henry Landers and Connor Roberts have all announced their exits in recent days, with Rasulo and Roberts leaving for non-football reasons.
Regardless of those departures, Jones stressed the importance of bringing players in to a squad which found itself stretched during the last few months of Whing’s regime.
Jones told this newspaper: “We need to recruit players. It’s well-documented that the squad was a little bit thin last year.
“The obvious one is striking options, there wasn’t many in the second part of the season – that was clear for everyone to see.
“We need to add some firepower but we have to strengthen all over the pitch if we want to be competitive.
“We’ll need a squad of players that will last the whole season with injuries and suspensions.”
The Puritans have also reaped the rewards from taking players on loan from the U’s in recent years, with James Golding, Aidan Elliott-Wheeler and Slavi Spasov enjoying temporary spells at the Spencer Stadium, as Jones hopes to maintain a strong link between the two sides.
Another big day at @OxCityFC as Zac McEachran, Josh Parker and Canice Carroll all commit their futures to the club. Understand the Hoops have fended off interest from Football League sides to keep hold of McEachranhttps://t.co/CjJuHGjQGo
— Liam Rice (@OxMailLiamRice) June 9, 2023
He said: “No question about it, I know some of the staff at Oxford and particularly Chris Hackett.
“We’ll keep that option open and Oxford City have made it to the National League so they might want to put out some of their talented youngsters on loan.
“Every successful non-league team supplements their squad with local young talent in the loan market.
“They tend to become available later on in pre-season as the clubs will keep hold of them to look at them, so we’ll have to be patient and sensible with what we’re doing.”
Jones was first team coach and lead PDP coach at Yeovil Town during the 2019/20 season, and working with young players is something he is keen to continue with.
He said: “My background is very much in coaching and development, and I’ve been involved in working with younger players to develop them – I think that’s a strength of mine.
“I’m open to giving opportunities to young talented players if they’re good enough.”
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About the author
To sign up to Liam’s latest Oxford United newsletter for free, click here: https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/newsletters/
Formerly the politics reporter for the Oxford Mail, Liam now covers all things Oxford United.
Liam attends the U’s home and away, as well as covering other big sports stories across the county.
His Oxford United newsletter is released every Saturday morning at 6am.
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