Jamie Day admits that Braintree Town’s pre-season campaign is going to be an especially important time this year, as he gets his new squad to gel ahead of the start of the Vanarama National League season in August.

Day’s first few weeks in charge of the Iron have seen the departure of a number of members of the squad that got the club to third place in the league last year, and he knows he has some building work to do before the season kicks off.

While he has been disappointed to lose the likes of Matt Paine, Kenny Davis and Matt Fry, Day sees it as an opportunity for him to bring other players in, but he knows he will have to act quickly to forge his squad into an effective unit.

He said: “We have a busy pre-season and that’s good as it will be a chance to get the new boys up to speed.

“We don’t have loads of time to do that, and we may have to do more work on shape than we would have had more boys stayed at the club. But there may be some boys coming in who already know each other and they can adjust quickly.

“Thankfully we have a lot of games coming up in pre-season; and there may be some playing more than they would otherwise as they’ll need to come up to speed, but it’s down to me to manage them.”

However, one thing that Day won’t be doing is making any rash decisions in reaction to players having departed.

He knows the clock is ticking and players are looking to get deals sorted, so he doesn’t want to let any prime targets slip away through sitting on his hands for too long but he won’t be panicked into bringing players in if they’re not right.

Day added: “We gave deadlines to the boys from last year to make their decisions and we’ve seen the outcome of that.

"It’s disappointing to lose so many, but I’ve said all along that they deserve the opportunities they’ve been offered and we can’t compete with offers they’ve had elsewhere.

“We’ve always had a plan B if that was to happen and I’ve been speaking with boys so I’m hoping we can get a couple sorted before the weekend.

“We have been busy that’s for sure as players won’t just fall into our laps, but we don’t want to panic and sign people if they aren’t right.

“I won’t be rushed as I have to make sure players are the right fit for the club and what it is all about.

“I don’t want to panic then come a week before pre-season and see that players are available who would be a good fit.

“There may be players who felt they could get a Football League place and have now become available so we have to be ready to take advantage of things like that.

“What I do want is a base of about eight players going into pre-season and we’ll also have some younger ones who want to play as well.

“I think it’s important when you have an academy system that there are opportunities for them to progress as well.”