Ibrahim Olutade has felt the love from Margate’s fans.

Olutade, the club’s 28-goal top scorer, has agreed to stay for the 2025/26 season as Gate look to go one better after a fourth-placed Isthmian South East finish and play-off semi-final disappointment.

The nucleus of Ben Greenhalgh’s squad have agreed to remain for another promotion push, with Olutade following suit last week.

“Every time I’ve played against Margate, the fans they get are always terrific,” the 26-year-old said.

“They’re always loud. You can see the support they give their players.

“I’ve actually felt it being a Margate player because, as soon as I was announced, I got loads of messages.

“Lots of people were messaging me, saying ‘I can’t believe you’re staying’, ‘we thought you were going higher’, ‘Thank you so much for staying’ so it’s nice to get that recognition. It’s good just knowing how much of an impact we made last season.

“Even after games, in the clubhouse, they would just come up to us and have a chat.”

While Gate weren’t quite able to secure an instant Isthmian Premier return, it was a largely positive season for the new-look squad.

Olutade said: “The objective was to get into the play-offs and try and go up through that.

"We knew winning the league with a new squad was going to be difficult.

“But for us, new players all coming together and, obviously, Ben was gaffer for the first time, as well, which I think worked really well [with] him being player-manager because a lot of us hadn’t played under a player-manager before. It was a very good experience and really helped us on the pitch.

“Obviously, it’s frustrating not to get over the line, but that’s the reason why a lot of the boys have decided to stay because we feel like this season we want to try and go up and try and win the league.”

Olutade, who counts Maidstone, Tonbridge, Folkestone and Leatherhead among his former clubs, says he had higher-division offers.

But he said: “A lot of the other boys were, obviously, confirmed before me.

“For me, I like to just go away with my family and just switch off from football for a couple of weeks and then have conversations. A lot of teams higher got in touch and it was just kind of a thing where I didn’t really want to speak to anyone yet.

“When the time was right for me, my priority was just to speak to Ben and Margate first.

“So once I spoke to them about the planning and everything and how things were, it kind of just made more sense for me to stay because, when you’re enjoying your football, there’s no better feeling than being somewhere where you’re enjoying it and you have a smile on your face.

“I didn’t really feel like going higher was the right thing for me at this moment.”

Many of Olutade’s goals were assisted by 33-year-old boss Greenhalgh.

He said: “Having him on the pitch, as games went on, we kind of knew how each other played a bit more and linked up well.

“That’s another factor, everyone getting to know each other and how each other played so, yeah, that showed on the pitch.”

While Olutade and Greenhalgh have played for a lot of the same clubs, they had never previously played together.

Olutade said: “That’s actually the first season I’ve played with him.

“I’ve always just known about him and I’ve played against him a few times, as well, so I kind of knew how he’s played.

"But this is actually the first time we’ve played together.

“It was a very enjoyable season.”

Margate have added a friendly at Isthmian North Newmarket to their pre-season schedule on Saturday, July 12.