'South London Press' preview

One of our local papers ran a bit feature earlier today on Hamlet hopes for the new season

Here is what they had to say:

Dulwich Hamlet boss Gavin Rose reckons the Ryman League Premier Division play-offs is the minimum target this season.
The Champion Hill club now boast one of the biggest home attendances in the non-league game with regular four-figure turnouts.
And Rose has been there for the good times. He is coming up for his eighth season in charge of the first-team.
“I’ve got the same enthusiasm as when I first started but the club is a different animal now,” he said. “But the primary thing remains to be successful on the pitch. When myself and my backroom team came in we always thought the club was a lot bigger than it was at the time. The potential was there. I spoke to the chairman a couple of weeks ago and he said ‘you were the only one who believed it. Everyone just got used to turning up, watching games, having a laugh and then going home.’ But we stuck at it because we believed the area had so much talent we could definitely unearth good players and get the community involved. The committee running the club have seen the work put in and have really tried to support our side of things. It is starting to match up now. There is a much bigger level of interest and a possible stadium move as well. It is a totally different role to when we started.”
But with that comes pressure. Dulwich are seen as a club that should be in the promotion shake up.
“We got into football coaching and management to play in front of the most fans-with that comes criticism and different opinions,” said Rose. “It is and parcel of the industry. We definitely have to try and win the league. A minimum is the play-offs and going up via that route. I’ve no problem with that and I’m not shying away from it. A lot of people are talking about Havant & Waterlooville. Apparently they have a sizable budget and a good management team. They are odds-on favourites. Tonbridge Angels are a consistent team who have added some good players. Kingston will be there or thereabouts. I’ve got the utmost respect for Bognor Regis, they have got smaller resources but always unearth a really competitive side. Merstham have made some decent signings, a few of our boys have gone there and are an outside bet. There are six or seven in with a shout and it is about who can get the consistency.”
Rose has switched the policy at Champion Hill. Last summer saw some more high-profile seasoned pros arriving but the club suffered play-off final defeat to East Thurrock in May.
This time around it is a younger squad with players that have a past connection with the club-like striker Daniel Carr, who cancelled his contract with Cambridge United to drop back into the Hamlet fold.
“A lot of the lads have come through the academy originally and gone on to Conference football or higher,” said rose. “These are guys who genuinely respect us and we genuinely respect them-and I mean that outside of football too. It means we can create a real family atmosphere with them. It is a small dressing room but that is what you bond your success on. If we get the amount of chances we usually seem to create then someone like Carr is very hungry to score goals. No matter how well you play you need people at the sharp end of the pitch to finish off the great play we sometimes produce. In the past few seasons we lost Erhun Oztumer (who moved to Peterborough), who provided a lot of goals, and Carr. Since then we have had nowhere near the 20-goal mark. Ten or fifteen is not enough to go and win the league. We need players to get us near the 20s.”
The big plans continue to come from one of the fastest-growing clubs in the non-league game.
"We are in very early talks about launching our own TV network station which will have footage of games. There is a lot of growth still to be had. We need to engage with the supporters a little bit more because as soon as you raise the bar then other clubs catch up."