Players from last year's Braintree Town squad will be welcomed back by new manager Glen Driver.

Having been announced as the Iron's new boss on Thursday, Driver has been spending his first few days in the job starting to put his first squad of players together.

He said he wanted to have a cohort of 16 to 17 players, but whether that includes any from the squad that ended up being relegated from the Vanarama National League at the end of last year remains to be seen.

But Driver, who has joined Iron after managing at Leiston in the Bostik League premier division, said he would welcome any back if they were willing to embrace his vision for the future and was hoping that they could form the core of next season's squad.

“I have had a few chats with players already," said Driver.

“Some who I have worked with before and some who I have come up against, but I’m also looking at players who were here (at Braintree) last year.

“I want every player who was here last year and feels they have a future at Braintree Town Football Club to come and have a look at us in pre-season.

“I do want to look at players who have a genuine interest in playing for Braintree Town and also other players out there who have not been given an opportunity to play Conference South football.

“The door is open and we will have trial days.

“But being honest, I hope that there is a core still here (from last year’s side); I really do.

“I hope that enough of the players who have been here will want to still be here and that would make my job a little bit easier.

“At the moment, though, I’m working from a blank sheet with no names on it.

“It literally is a blank canvass, but I have spoken to some players and I’ll be sitting down with the chairman to look at who we can and can’t bring in.

“I want to build a squad of about 16 or 17 players and we will give anyone an opportunity.

“It doesn’t matter how old you are or how big you are, we will bring in players who can play the way that we want to play."