New Peterborough Sports boss says 'buckle up and enjoy the ride' as he plots an immediate return to National League football

Drury was boss of Corby Town when ‘The Steelmen’ achieved step two football for the first time almost 20 years ago. He kept them up as well before leaving the club after four years in charge.

Moving from Stamford AFC, after 10 years at the Zeeco Stadium, for Sports gives Drury the chance to get back to some giddy heights. Sports were relegated from National League North last season, but Drury has been given the job of masterminding an immediate return by ambitious owner/chairman Tim Woodward.

Woodward has sanctioned the arrival of several new players, including six from Stamford, who flirted with relegation from the Southern Premier Division Central last season before pulling off a late and great escape. Sports now find themselves in the same division.

In an interview with Peterborough Community Radio Drury said: “Sports is a club I’ve admired for a long time. It reminds me of Stamford as it has a tight knit fanbase.

“We will try and build the crowd numbers up and the only way to keep the fans happy is to win games. It’s it’s 6-5, 5-4 or 1-0, I don’t really care. The project is to get the club back up to the National League North and it’s something I’ve done before with Corby. I’m really looking forward to the challenge.

"We have made many signings from Stamford and that was key for me. Those players know how I work and it’s important to remember those players showed promotion form in the second half of last season and they were a point from reaching the play-offs in the two seasons before that.

“I haven’t really ‘raided’ Stamford as every single player was leaving the club anyway. At this level lots of players follow a manager and that’s what happened here. From my point of view it was the right time to leave as the club wanted to go in a different direction to me. The fact that so many players followed me speaks volumes for the togetherness we had. I still want Stamford to do well and I will anything I can to help them.

"It’s now a question of getting a new squad to gel quickly. As for the fans I urge them to come and get behind us. We will give it all we have. We will make sure we enjoy ourselves and play with smiles on our faces. I reckon we will enjoy some support from Stamford fans when there clubs plays away. We will just buckle up and enjoy the ride.

"We are all looking forward to the challenge and I’m grateful for the support of the chairman as I’ve also been able to put together a strong management team. Getting Mark Ducket as assistant manager was huge as his Real Bedford team were great to watch and very hard to play against.”

The National League fixtures are released on Friday, July 10 with the season due to kick off on Saturday, August 8.