LAUNCESTON first team manager Gary Jeffery simply wants to ‘win football matches’ after rejoining the Pennygillam outfit ahead of the new season.

Jeffery, 35, managed the Clarets for four and a half years before stepping down at the end of the 2017/18 campaign after guiding them to a seventh-placed finish in the Carlsberg South West Peninsula League Premier Division.

He spent 19 years at the club before taking a year off to concentrate on his job as a coach at Plymouth Argyle, his role as co-ordinator of Plymouth Marjon University’s football programme and to spend more time with his young family.

Last season was a massive struggle with Launceston finishing third from bottom in the last ever SWPL Premier Division campaign, and the Clarets been placed in the new SWPL Premier West.

But Jeffery, who recently got married, has already brought in five new signings with the likelihood of more, is delighted to back.

He said: “It is with great pride that I will returning to the Launceston hotseat for the 2019/20 season.

“It was nice to take some time out of the game spend with loved ones, recharge my batteries and reassess the game with my university team.

“I’ve recently got married and I realise how important family life and other parts of your life are, but there is a way of finding a balance. This balance will only help me.

“I wasn’t planning on taking up the hotseat, I was going to come back in another capacity, but plans didn’t work out, and here I am. We have plenty to do but we can achieve and be competitive again, I have faith in that, but everyone needs to pull in the same way, work hard be positive and be ambitious.”

Jeffery overachieved in his final campaign in charge and is desperate to get more people to home games.

He said: “It wasn’t nice to see and hear Launceston struggle last year but I will do all I can to put smiles back on the players, committee and supporters faces. It’s important that the club is supported and watched, I hope the town and people will start to follow the Clarets again. This will help on and off the field and I’ll try my very best to in grain it into my team this year to perform and give people football worth watching.”

Jeffery’s coaching staff will see Matt Hodgetts stay on as assistant coach while Mike Prynn remains as head physio and will be assisted by Sam Alfieri, who will also play.

Jeffery said: “Matt will help me with the team. This is important as he’s another local lad whom I played at youth level with, so it’s great that we get to work together again. It’s nice we have the same beliefs and understanding of football and the club, so I think it will be great.”

With the league season set to get underway in just over eight weeks time and pre-season in 19 days, the players know what to expect.

The likes of Charlie Hardcastle, Dan Metherell, Josh Colwill and key midfielder Callum Watson have all agreed to stay on while Jack Alexander has committed to the cause after not being able to play much last year, and Jeffery is demanding they get in shape before their first session at Duchy College next month.

He said: “Pre-season starts now. The players have met with me and my team of staff and I’ve asked them to do their own thing.

“We will meet up on July 2, get ten sessions in and five or six games before season starts.”

Although the new manager has been in place for less than a fortnight, he’s already added a host of signings.

Former Clarets Josh McCabe (centre-half) and Andrew Elcock (central midfield) have returned while the Hopcroft brothers — Billy and Harry — have signed from Halwill and Bude Town respectively as has Elburton Villa defender Matt Thackeray.

Jeffery said: “The squad needed strengthening. Just a little bit of work was needed to help the current players that I’d like to keep. They needed leadership, someone to follow and they need to believe again and the new players will add experience and quality to the ranks.

“We are looking at a squad of between 17 and 20. It will be competitive but competition is healthy. We need hard workers and standards are key this year. I believe though with the current players I’d like to keep and new players coming in, we can turn things around.”

That will give the chance for the new recruits to get used to playing with each other, and Jeffery is delighted with his recruits.

He said: “Harry Hopcroft had a desire to play at a higher standard which was pleasing to hear after chatting to him and he was very excited about our aims and goals. He will add a bit of quality in the final third with assists and goals and is a player to keep for the future if everything works out. After speaking to him we were excited to find out that his brother Billy wanted to join him. We were delighted we could add both. Billy has always scored goals, works hard and that ticked the boxes for me.”

While the Hopcrofts are predominantly known in the local area for their time at Bude Town and Camelford amongst others, Elcock and McCabe will be familiar to the Pennygillam faithful.

Elcock, 24, spent the majority of his youth in the Plymouth Argyle set-up and went to Launceston College, and is a now personal trainer.

Jeffery added: “Andrew is a very technical player, a very good passer of the ball and personally fit. He’s played at a higher standard and this will add the quality from deep to turn defence into attack. Him linking up with Callum Watson, Mike Steele and one more surprise up my sleeve, will be exciting to watch.”

In defence, Jeffery has brought in Thackeray and the returning McCabe, who spent last year at Torpoint Athletic.

“Matt comes with good experience and leadership skills that will help both on and off the field. “He’s also a good commander at the back with good qualities on the ball while Josh will bring great presence and pace and quality to the back line. I’m very happy to have Josh back and he showed great desire to return.

“Other new faces will also arrive to ensure we have solid foundations throughout the team and what I want from the players is hard work, honesty, respect, ownership and smiles, as well as obviously winning football matches!”