by Kevin Redsull

Whitstable Town assistant manager Richard Langley is predicting a busy summer at The Belmont.

As the Oystermen prepare to end their Ryman League, Division 1 South season at home to Three Bridges on Saturday, Langley (pictured) said: "It’s not rocket science to know that we have massively under-achieved when you consider the squad we had at the start of the season and there are a lot of things to sort out for next year."

Player-manager Nicky Southall has already persuaded Lordswood manager Jason Lillis to join his coaching set-up and Langley added: "Nicky needs to sort out his backroom staff and in the next week or two, he’s got to have discussions with the chairman about budgets and also find out which players are happy and which aren’t.

"It’s been disheartening this season the way we got ourselves up to mid-table at one point and then slipped back down into the relegation area again. Now it’s going to be a busy summer."

Three Bridges were the side whom Whitstable faced in what proved to be Justin Luchford’s last match in charge before he was sacked in November.

Langley, who took over as caretaker-manager for four matches before Southall was appointed player-manager, said: "In fairness to Justin, he had put together a squad which, on paper, should have done far better than it did.

"I’ve not had the chance to check this but I would guess that our ‘points per game’ ratio since Nicky took over is about the same as it was while Justin was in charge. Our big failing has been the same all season – not scoring enough goals."

Langley is, however, keen to finish the season on a high, saying: "It’s so tight at the bottom. Depending on Saturday’s result, we could finish anywhere from second to bottom to seventh or eighth from bottom but for pride reasons, it would be nice to finish with a win."