Hemel Hempstead Town boss Jones already focused on next season

Mark Jones will lead Hemel Hempstead Town into the 2022/23 Vanarama National League South campaign

And the Tudors boss feels he knows what it takes to get the club challenging consistently at the right end of the Vanarama National League South table.

Having been appointed as manager in September after the departure of Lee Bircham, Jones took over a Hemel side which was sitting at the foot of the division.

However, the former Oxford City boss soon helped guide them away from danger into the safety net of mid-table.

The Tudors were flirting with the play-off places in the latter stages of the season but fell away towards the end with a 2-1 defeat at Dulwich Hamlet in the final game last weekend ensuring they finished in 15th place. Trailing 2-0, Craig Fasanmade’s header got Hemel back into it on the hour but they were unable to find an equaliser.

Jones is now set to hold talks with members of the current Tudors squad and conceded there will be comings and goings over the summer.

But he is determined to do whatever he can to get Hemel firing towards the right end of the table.

“We are fully committed to next season,” Jones said.

“We’ve had a chat with the chairman and we have agreed to be there for the next one.

“Player-wise, we have meetings with all of the squad this week.

“We are going to be pretty ruthless with it and there may be a couple that surprise people when we let them go.

“But to move things forward, you sometimes have to make tough decisions.

“I feel I am pretty experienced in this league and I think I know what it takes to be challenging.”

As far as summer recruitment is concerned, Jones is in no doubt that he needs to add some experience to the Tudors squad.

However, he knows he will have to be “clever” with the way he uses the budget available to him.

“We do need to add a bit more experience to the group and we will be in discussions with players throughout the summer,” Jones added.

“The recruitment is always the difficult part because you are competing with other teams. We will have a competitive budget but we won’t be in the top five or six on that front so we have to be clever with the way we recruit.”