Whitchurch Alport boss Luke Goddard believes the chance to focus on first-team affairs at Yockings Park is what convinced him to lead the Reds' assault on the North West Counties Premier Division.

The club will be playing Step Five football for the first time in their history after securing promotion via the play-offs two weeks ago at home to Cammell Laird with a 2-1 win.

Goddard, who took sole charge of the team last year, was unsure of his future as boss of Alport, which he has turned from a winless bottom-of-the-table side to promotion in just two years, because of a heavy workload.

But after meeting with club officials, Goddard and his management team are set for a pre-season geared towards cup runs and staying the Premier Division.

"We're carrying on because of what we've had back from the committee and that we've managed to have a few more members sign up to go on the committee," said Goddard.

"That means my job can shrink to go back and solely manage the team, which is what needed to happen to be honest, as I've been running around doing everything for two years.

"We met the chairman and vice-chairman on Sunday, put a plan together and now it's all systems go.

"We're looking forward to it; we've got a clear plan about what we want to do and now it's about putting it into place ahead of the new season which is what it should be about, considering the positive of getting promoted.

"I wasn't going to be leaving the club if this hadn't been sorted because I was going to do more on the committee."

Goddard admitted almost immediately after promotion was sealed that his future role as day-to-day manager was in doubt, citing the increased workload as Alport grew as a club but is delighted it is all resolved.

And while he's in no doubt of the pressures the Reds face in the Premier Division, he said he is already looking froward to the challenge of facing some big-name teams.

He added: "It's good that we've got this sorted so quickly after getting promoted. We already had everything in place anyway and we can now carry that on; we've got three weeks before the players are back for pre-season then we can get into our pre-season games.

"The change in the league format (to three divisions) is going to help us as there's now four games fewer across the league as there's only 20 teams. Obviously, we have to win the title to get out of the league so that's going to be tougher.

"There's plenty of established clubs there in that Premier Division so it'll be tough.

"Those fewer games will allow us to have more time on the training ground with the players although we'll be playing the same amount of cup competitions."

n Goddard's Cup Dreams – more from the Alport boss on p37.