Gavin Cowan sets his AFC Telford season target

The 39-year-old is going into his third season with the Bucks after missing out on the play-offs by a goal in 2018/19 and finishing 13th last campaign – after the season was finished off the pitch due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Cowan has already been busy this summer by bringing in several signings – most recently defender Courtney Meppen-Walter – and although he believes the club can go all the way, Cowan insists that National League North survival must be achieved first.

“Because of the way we are and set up as a business, we have to aim for the points that will stop us from getting relegated,” he said.

“Once we hit that target, which we hope is sooner rather than later, we’ll aim for mid-table and then it will be play-offs and so on. If I didn’t enter a season thinking we were going to win the league there’s no point even entering the competition. What is the point?

“Some managers have an ambition to finish mid-table but every season we want no limit on what we can do.

“We do have to have a sense of reality and there are certain goals we want to meet before we start sticking our necks out.

“We start every season thinking we can achieve the so-called unachievable and we saw in my first year we did that.

“We want to kick on and do better and will hit those targets first, to stay in the league, secure mid-table, get in the play-offs and win the league.

“The sooner they come the more chance we’ve got at getting to the next level.

“If you’re asking me if I’m sticking my neck out, my answer is I wouldn’t even bother being manager of AFC Telford if I didn’t have the ambition that matches the players coming in.”