Sam Hasler can see similarities between what Ashford manager Lloyd Hume and Faversham chairman Gary Smart have done at their respective clubs.

Midfielder Hasler has headed back to Homelands after leaving 2024/25 Southern Counties East League Premier Division champions Faversham.

The 32-year-old had initially been keen to stay at Salters Lane, although boss Tommy Warrilow wasn’t able to guarantee regular first-team football.

Instead, Hasler will work under Hume, who completed his takeover of Ashford with business partner Dave Warr last summer, and No.2 Craig Stone - someone Hasler has played alongside.

But he also praised what Smart has done since he was named as Faversham’s chairman three years ago.

“It was a bit out of the blue,” Hasler said of his Lilywhites exit.

“I ended up speaking to Tommy at the back-end of last year. He got everyone in to have a chat about next season and what everyone's plans were.

“I had a couple of niggly injuries at the back-end of last year so I wasn’t playing too much.

“At my age now, I want to be playing - that’s the bottom line. I made it pretty clear to Tommy that was my plan and what I wanted to do for the new season, coming in for a fresh start, getting fit, getting sharp and be more of a mainstay in the team.

“We spoke and he said ‘Yeah, that’s all fine.’. A few days later, I got a call and he said they were due to be signing someone in the midfield area.

“He then said ‘I can’t guarantee it (regular first-team football).’. You sort of get the feeling when you speak to managers of where their heads are at and stuff like that. I kind of started to make calls from there.

“To be fair, Tommy said I was free to - it wasn’t ended on bad terms or anything like that. I really enjoyed my time there.

“It’s such a good club. Gary Smart, the chairman, is doing absolute wonders for the club, financially and for the community.

“I know they weren’t really in a great place when they got relegated from Isthmian South East.

"He has revitalised the whole club and the whole town. It’s going in the right direction.

“To be honest, I’d like to have stayed because he wants to take them through the leagues and go as far as they can but, if you’re getting the feeling you’re not going to be a main part of the team, you’ve got to do what’s best for you at the end of the day.

“It’s worked out for me. I knew Stoney from playing with him. Obviously, I spoke to them about what their plans were.

“It’s a similar story [to Smart] with what Lloyd has done at Ashford.

"When Tommy was there, I think it needed a little bit of a revamp in terms of facilities and the team had quite a few players that had been there for a long period of time so it was becoming slightly stale.

“I spoke to Lloyd and he spoke about his plans in terms of moving the club forward.

“It all sounded perfect for me and was just good timing.”

Hasler was signed by then-manager Sammy Moore in 2023 - with Moore getting sacked in January 2024 despite the club leading the league - before 18 months under Warrilow at Salters Lane.

But Hasler said: “It was a tough one for Sammy because he sort of rebuilt the whole squad so there were probably 15 players that hadn’t really played with each other before.

"It gets overlooked in terms of actual team spirit. It’s hard to generate a team spirit when you’ve not really played with anyone.

"There’s no familiarity with the people you’re sort of going to pre-season with so it was a tough job.

“I thought Sammy did well and he had us playing some really good stuff. He’s a really good coach and I did enjoy playing under him.

“But when Tommy came in, he had more of a ready-made team. He’s added people here and there that he was familiar with from Ashford, like Brad Simms, Tariq Ossai and, obviously, Ben Gorham.

“He added to the core that we already had and just kind of implemented tactics that he could trust and he knew. Obviously, Tommy knows his stuff.

“He’s not new to the game. He knows what it takes to win and stuff like that, which is essentially the most important thing.

“We had the best team in the league - everyone knows that - so it was just getting the right people on the pitch and getting the basics in place.

“I’m glad we got it done and I’m not leaving on sort of bad terms where we failed to go up and stuff like that.

"I was close with quite a few people at the club, to be honest, and my family used to come down all the time.

“They were a bit gutted when I left - and a bit surprised!

"But it’s one of those where you’ve got to do what’s best for you at the end of the day.

"It'll be interesting coming up against them but they're putting a really good team together at Ashford, as well. I think it'll be competitive this year.”

Defender Stone won’t be the only familiar face for young father Hasler at the Isthmian South East club after - ironically - turning out for them under Warrilow.

He said: “I'm not one of those to try and play the waiting game. It's not really about money too much for me now.

“Obviously, I've been around the block where I've played Isthmian Premier football with Folkestone and Hastings.

“I'm not too fussed on levels so much anymore, although I didn't really want to do another season in SCEFL. It's a bit of a slog with some of the places you go to. I wanted to go into a decent level - but then again, try to balance that with travel and stuff like that.

“I've got a little one, which takes up a lot of time! There's a few familiar faces there to me, as well, in a few of the boys that I played with at Hastings.

“Craig Stone is assistant manager now. It was him I initially spoke to. I know a few of the other boys, people like Jack Dixon and Kane Penn, and I played with Gary Lockyer at Faversham for a little bit.

“It was a good one for me. It's not like going to a 'new' new team where you don't know anyone.

“It's quite a familiar setting.”

Defender Tolu Jonah has left Ashford.