Thatcham Town boss Romeo looks to build on positive first full season in charge

Thatcham Town boss Yashwa Romeo is targetting an assault on the top half of the Isthmian League South Central table this season.

Last term, the Kingfishers were in a relegation battle at Christmas but went on a run of 10 games unbeaten after the New Year, losing just two of their final 18 games and finishing a creditable 13th.

It was Romeo’s first full season in charge at the Stacatruc Stadium and the boss has vowed to learn from some of the mistakes he feels he made in the lead up to the last campaign.

Having struggled with both player recruitment and retention, Romeo was forced to sign an entire squad of new players in the summer of 2022, leaving Thatcham at times looking disjointed and disorganised in the first half of the campaign.

This time around, Romeo has secured the signatures of most of the Kingfishers key players, including captain Josh Edwards, experienced midfielder Callum Willmoth and top goalscorer Cameron Rohart-Brown, with striker Simeon Weekes the most notable name to have moved on to pastures new.

“We’ve managed to retain that core of key players,” Romeo said.

“It’s something we’ve struggled with in the past but to get the lads to commit this time is absolutely massive.

“It shows we’re moving in the right direction.”

Romeo had a first look at his squad in an in-house friendly on Saturday and plans to put his new charges through their paces in pre-season, with fixtures against higher level opposition including National League Maidenhead, National League South Slough, Southern League Hungerford and a youthful XI from embattled League One side Reading.

The Kingfishers eight match warm-up campaign will begin in earnest with a trip to Combined Counties outfit Penn and Tylers Green this afternoon.

Romeo said: “We’re playing five teams that are above us in the pyramid, so it’s going to be really tough.

“I wanted it to be difficult, I want to test my players as much as possible so that when we start the season, we’re in the best position we can be.”

Romeo spent a lot of his spare time last season watching potential transfer targets and has a good idea of the type of players he’d like to add to the strong core the Kingfishers have already retained.

Thatcham lacked a goalscorer for much of the previous campaign, with then-Reading loanee David Nyarko making a real difference in a prolific albeit fleeting spell while Simeon Weekes, who has moved on due to work commitments, enjoyed a purple patch at the back end of the season.

That means the need for a proven goalscorer or two is more pressing than ever, with Romeo hopeful he can bring in a genuine number nine which his side lacked for large parts of last term.

The Kingfishers also had one of the worst records in the league for defending set-pieces and Romeo is hoping to rectify that with the addition of a dominant defensive presence.

“We’re disappointed to lose Sim but understand his decision,” he said.

“He was probably the hardest working player in our team last season but we believe we can replace him with someone that’s going to go and score more goals.

“We’ve got one lad who has come in and done really well, so we’re looking to get that deal sorted, and we’ve been working really hard on a loan signing from higher up the leagues.

“I’m looking at a number of centre-halves, we conceded far too many goals from set-pieces at the end of the season.

“We’re looking really good and I’m pleased with where we’re at.”

Romeo is confident that, with a season of managerial experience under his belt and a more settled squad, Thatcham can look to mount a surprise challenge towards the top end of the tabel next term.

He said: “I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think we could improve and challenge.

“I’m not here to make up the numbers.

“I want to be in and around the play-offs, I’ve set my stall out early to the players.

“We were good last season but we weren’t great.

“I think the mindset has to be different if we’re to achieve what we want to, we’ve got to believe in ourselves more.

“With the players we’ve retained and the ones we’re going to bring in, there’s no reason we can’t go and do really well.”