Deakin wants “committed” start to new campaign after refreshing backroom staff to create “different” look Slimbridge

Slimbridge coach, Tom Deakin targets a “different” look Swans side following a pre-season refresh of coaching staff and players, writes Sam Yapp.

Ahead of the Swans 2025/26 Hellenic League Premier campaign, Deakin has been busy in the market putting together a new look side on and off the field.

The Swans added former Longlevens manager, Michael Palmer and former Chalford boss, Ben Powell to Deakins coaching staff alongside Sam Prior who joined the side last season from Brimscombe & Thrupp which Deakin hopes will be the “difference” in the upcoming campaign.

“When we started the conversations around it together, we decided it had to be the same but there had to be elements of difference, and it has to be different to what it has been before.

“That is the key thing at the minute for us that some of it is the same but a lot of it is different in what we are doing, how we are approaching things and I’ve found it really good so far with what we’ve done.

“I’ve enjoyed working with Mike, Ben, Sam and Dave Bees with the bits he’s doing for us right now which is good.

“It’s a great off the field team, contributing to a really good on the field team,” Deakin said.

Alongside the new coaching arrivals, Deakin reinforced his core squad with extra fire power in the form of attackers, Raiyan Ahmed and Joe Stokes, versatile player Ryan Ponting and Hartpury University back-to-back title winning duo, Stephen Sarkodie and Kian Kang.

“We pretty much tried to get our squad nailed in before the Forest Green game so that we knew we working with the players we wanted from then,” he said.

And Deakin has had an entire pre-season campaign to see his new side gel together which was evident during his sides 2-0 victory over Gloucestershire County League side, Sharpness on Tuesday night.

It took 54 minutes for the deadlock to be broken but it came Slimbridge’s way when Ryan Ponting picked out the bottom corner with a volleyed effort from 18-yards.

Slimbridge then doubled their lead on 66 minutes when Jack Smith met a Raiyan Ahmed cross to head home from inside the six-yard box.

“I thought it was a good competitive game. Sharpness came out with intensity, putting us on the back foot early on which, credit to them.

“As the game went on we got better. Nil-nil at half time was probably about right.

“First half we were a bit scrappier, but the second half was a completely different game that we put together,” Deakin said.

This was the Swans fourth victory of their pre-season preparations out of six outings defeating Dursley Town, Shortwood United, Chalford and Sharpness.

A 1-1 draw with Newent Town and a 3-0 defeat against National League side Forest Green Rovers were amongst those wins but Deakin believes his side are starting to click together.

“It’s starting to click now in terms of getting players ready and them getting used to each other.

“It’s been good that we’ve kept the core of what finished last season with and then we’ve added some very good players to play in and around them.

“Now we’re starting to see the quality that we have in the squad,” he said.

To round off his sides pre-season fixtures, the Swans travel to Southern League Div One South side, Melksham Town on Saturday which Deakin is using to test his players.

“We’re expecting a tough test. They’ve got a very good set of players that we know about from playing against them in the Southern League.

“It will be a good test; we’ll be positive with what we do and hopefully we can put into practise what we’ve been doing over the last few weeks,” he said.

And with the new season less than a week away, Deakin could now start to focus on his plans for the opening month which sees some testing fixtures.

On Tuesday, the Swans host Cirencester Town with the side hoping to put an end to their opening day winless drought having not won their opening fixture since 2017.

It’s a challenging opening five after Cirencester with a trip to Corsham in the FA Cup before fixtures against Fairford Town, Cinderford Town and newly promoted sides, Hallen and Droitwich Spa.

“We just want a good, positive start results wise and see some good attitude and commitment from the lads.

“By the end of the month we’ll see where we are. It’s an interesting start for us to say the least.

“It’s either past friends or teams that have come up or been relegated that we’re up against early on which will be a good test to see what we are up against,” he said.

Slimbridge host Melksham Town on Saturday for their final pre-season fixture with kick off at 2pm at Thornhill Park.

Cover photo courtesy of Slimbridge AFC