Midfielder Michael West is setting his sights high as he urges Herne Bay to take a leaf out of Dorking’s book.

Bay kick-off their pre-season campaign at Tooting & Mitcham this Saturday ahead of their inaugural Isthmian Premier season.

Former Football League man West is one of two new faces at Winch’s Field so far this summer, having joined on loan last season.

Many would see Bay simply avoiding relegation as success this term - but 31-year-old West wants much more than that as they aim to emulate Wanderers.

Dorking had previously earned two promotions in three campaigns to move into National League South before they were crowned National League South play-off victors last season.

“I think we are more than capable of being in and around the play-offs,” West said.

“Having seen what I’m seeing at training so far - we have only been back a week - but I’m sure the management team will make some more good signings and I don’t see why not.

“Why can’t you push for the play-offs? You never know.

“Look at Dorking. They pretty much went back-to-back, didn’t they?

"All it takes is a good group. It’s not always about ability - it’s about being a team.

“When I was younger at Ebbsfleet, we didn’t have the best team on paper but we managed to get promotion.”

The former Crewe and Fleet man joined on loan in March and rates his brief stint with Ben Smith’s side last season as “probably one of the best six weeks of my playing career” on their way to Isthmian South East play-off success.

He said: “To be fair, I’m really excited about it because I only went down there for six weeks and it was probably one of the best six weeks of my playing career, to be honest, because it was always a high.

“I think I played 10 games - won seven, drew two and lost one.

“So when Stu Fitchie, the chairman, and the manager [Smith] said about the possibility of coming down, I was more than open to it.

“With my background with my work now, part-time will kind of suit me.

“It’s a match made in heaven, really.”

There was no shortage of interest in West this summer but he was always keen on the move to Herne Bay.

“To be honest, I have probably had 12 or 13 phone calls from managers, seeing what I’m doing because they’d seen I went out on loan,” he explained.

“It came about through [Maidstone keeper] Tom Hadler that I went out on loan. He knows the people down at Herne Bay and he said to me ‘They are really good people, go down there’.

“I’ve said to a lot of clubs that rang me up ‘To be honest, I think I’ll go to Herne Bay, depending on what we can get sorted’ and it’s all fallen into place, really, and here I am.”

West has also been impressed with the club’s fanbase.

“To be honest, I was really overwhelmed with the fanbase. Obviously dropping down, it’s the lowest I ever played,” he revealed.

“I was thinking you would only get 100 or 200 people watching you. But for the play-off [semi-final], we got 1,200 and then, in the final, there were about 2,000. It was really good and definitely better than what I thought.

“What Stu is doing behind-closed-doors at the stadium and what he wants to do with the club - getting them out of debt and stuff like that - it seems like he’s in it for the long haul. That was a big part of why I am down here, I want to be part of something.

“I feel I’m at that part of my career where I have enough experience to help the younger players in the squad. Not like a coach, but in almost a player-coach sort of role, because I get a lot out of helping people.”

Bay have only announced a handful of players from last term’s squad are staying while full-back Frankie Morgan has signed for the club alongside West.

But ahead of their opening pre-season friendly, West confirmed: “Trust me, there’s more than 11 players!

“I’m looking forward to it.

"I like training but there’s nothing like playing games and, with changes to football over the years, you just used to do running [in pre-season]. But now, you have six, seven or eight games in pre-season which was unheard of before, but I think it’s the best way to do it.

“That’s the only way you are going to get match fitness - playing games - so I’m really looking forward to it.”

Bay are due to play Abbey Rangers on Tuesday following the cancellation of their scheduled friendly at Welling.