Tom Parkinson played his part in convincing striker Jake Hutchinson to sign for Folkestone.

Hutchinson is among the new faces at Invicta ahead of their 2025/26 Isthmian Premier season.

It was Folkestone coach Parkinson - who played alongside Hutchinson at Tonbridge - who got the wheels in motion for the switch before manager Jay Saunders got his man.

Hutchinson said: “After the season finished, Tom Parkinson dropped me a message.

“I played with him at Tonbridge Angels. He just messaged and said ‘Do you want to have a chat about it (joining Folkestone)?’.

“We had a phone call and then, about a week later, I met up with Jay. He explained how he was going to play me.

“It was really easy.”

Hutchinson arrives at Cheriton Road after leaving National League South side Enfield.

“Finishing last season, I sort of knew I would be leaving for a new club,” he said.

“To get it done early-ish in the summer, that’s quite good for me. I didn’t want to be waiting into pre-season, looking to find somewhere.

“So, it was nice to get the interest from Folkestone and get it done quite quickly.”

Hutchinson certainly made an impression when he came up against Saunders, No.2 Lloyd Blackman and Parkinson while the trio were at the Tonbridge helm in the 2024/25 season.

He netted twice in Enfield’s 3-1 victory at Longmead last December. He also came off the substitutes’ bench in a 3-1 loss in February in London.

“I’ve played against him a few times over the last few years,” he recalled. “Jay has always had the same set-up and style of play.

“He’s someone, when I have come up against him, I’ve thought ‘He’s someone I’d like to play for.’. I know a few players that played for Jay at Tonbridge last year.

“They said he was a really good manager and brought together a really good set of lads, on and off the pitch.”

The match at Enfield saw Hutchinson come up against teenage midfielder Mikey Berry - now a Folkestone team-mate - while he has crossed paths with defenders Ollie Black and Kevin Lokko in his career, too.

“I think I came up against Mikey last year when he was at Tonbridge,” he said.

“Ollie Black has just signed, I played with him a bit at Worthing last season. I came up against Kevin Lokko probably about three or four years ago now at Farnborough.

“But Ollie is the only one I know personally.”

It means Hutchinson has something of a clean slate to work with, something he sees as a positive.

He explained: “Going into a new club where you personally don’t really know anyone, that’s always good. You can go in and just be yourself.

“No one has any kind of pre-conceived ideas about you, they will just take you as you are when you first meet them.

“I think that’s a positive thing.”

Still only 23, Hutchinson, who has played for Scotland’s Queen of the South, Worthing and Aldershot, having come through at Brighton and then Colchester, has already had his fair share of clubs.

He said: “For someone my age, I think I’ve probably had one too many clubs already!

"I went out on loan at Colchester and that has added to the amount of clubs I’ve had.

“But those experiences as a 17-year-old or 18-year-old, going into men’s dressing rooms, and different dressing rooms, that was definitely a benefit to me.”

Hutchinson hopes he has found a home and a place he can plot a long-term future at Invicta.

He said: “That was something else Jay said to me, he wants to build a squad where, next season, he can keep the majority of them around. He said it’s not easy when you go into a new side, having to rebuild.

“There’s a few of us, looking at it as a long-term plan rather than a short-term plan.”

Saunders has also explained to Hutchinson what to expect from Folkestone’s faithful.

“Jay said to me the fans have been brilliant since he has been in,” he revealed. “When he came in, he said they were getting crowds of 1,000 at games.

“They knew they couldn’t go up or down so they were sort of dead-rubber games. They’re sorting out the pitch at the minute and doing work on the bar.

“When I went down to see it, I was really impressed by it all and I just can’t wait to get going.”

Hutchinson, who lives in Eastbourne, will face a fair old commute to Folkestone.

The Sussex-born man said: “It’s a little bit of a trek, straight up the coast but, obviously, I was at Enfield last year - I was doing a lot of travelling for that!

“It’s something I’m quite used to.”

Paul Smith has been appointed as Folkestone’s new physio.

Smith was the physio at Gravesend & Northfleet - now Ebbsfleet United - during Jay Saunders’ time there as a player, with Saunders then taking Smith to Maidstone United during his time as Stones’ manager.

He replaces Beth Cooper within that role.