Steve Watt is targeting two more players this week as his close-season squad rebuild continues.
The Margate boss hopes to conclude both deals by the end of the week but knows he is not the only manager chasing the players.

Watt has also confirmed an interest in Joe Healy.

Watt said: “They are another defender and a midfield player and if the deals are done, they will be two big signings but there will be stiff competition from elsewhere.”

Meanwhile goalscoring midfielder Healy is available following his release by Dover.

Watt added: “I’d like to get him. We had a conversation but I haven’t heard from him for a while.

“I didn’t offer him anything in terms of a deal but he said he would like to talk but may want to get something closer to home.

“If I was a betting man, I would say he would go to Welling, as Jamie Coyle has just taken over there after leaving Maidstone.”

The Gate boss knows the size of the squad he wants to work with as Gate prepare for a return to Isthmian League Premier Division football

He added: “I want 18, with the balance made up from the under-21s.

“I don’t want to be chopping and changing during the season and that number will be good enough to work with.

“That’s not to say there won’t be changes if things don’t work out but I’m not using around 50 like this season.

Meanwhile Watt's predecessor Nikki Bull has apologised to Margate supporters for not having the chance to say goodbye – and says he has still got unfinished business at Hartsdown Park.

In a hard-hitting near 9,000 words on his own blog, Bull offers a personal reflection on the trials and tribulations of his time at the club, first as a player and then manager after a spell in caretaker-charge, following the sacking of Terry Brown in December 2015.

Bull said: “It’s been almost three months now since I left...... and I have to say that out of all of my life experiences, this has been by far the hardest to comprehend, deal with and move on from.”

In a personal message to the fans, he added: “The supporters were amazing towards me as both a player and manager and it saddens me that I never got the chance to say goodbye or thank you properly.

“I was a young inexperienced manager that wanted to learn and be the best that I could be and in different circumstances I know I would have brought you the success that you all deserve.

"I wish you all the very best of happiness both on the pitch and in your personal lives.

“One day I will return and write the next chapter as I feel that I have so much unfinished business left with the club but until then...Thank you and Up the Gate.”