Braintree Town kick off their National League South campaign at Eastbourne Borough tomorrow afternoon with a new manager and a completely new set of players.

Former Iron player Brad Quinton has taken over at Cressing Road after three successful seasons in his debut managerial post at Enfield and his brief is to steady the ship and rebuild after the club’s traumatic relegation from the National League last season.

Not one player was retained from that disastrous campaign and Quinton admits it’s “starting with a clean slate and I want every player to be as committed as I am.”

He went on: “I’m pleased with the way pre-season has gone and how the new squad has come together and the message to them is quite clear - be on your toes from the start.

“Players certainly know from the off that if I am not seeing improvements then I will be looking at others as alternatives,” he explained. “Any player here thinks they are nailed into my team then they are so wrong because you are only as good as your last match or your last training session.”

He continued: “There will be no room for complacency and we have built a new squad of players and as always I have set them three-game targets first starting with the first game at Eastbourne.”

The Sussex side play on an artificial pitch but the new Iron players have already experienced this including a pre-season win on Newmarket Town’s new 3G surface and Quinton adds: “This club has just been relegated and because of this it’s important we do our job now, straight away, and if we do then we can progress.”

The only new player well-known to Iron fans is goalkeeper Nathan McDonald who, like five others have followed Quinton from Enfield, having gained England C honours when last at the club.

“It’s good that we have a nucleus of players here who have played under Brad and knows how he wants us to play and the other new players joining have shown what they are capable of and want to play Brad’s way,” said McDonald.

Most of the new players are young with some experience but clearly eager and hungry to progress which is what Quinton believes is the right direction for the club to go.

Quinton is still looking for an additional striker to provide a bit more firepower up front and yesterday talks were still going on with Ipswich Town in the hope of extending the two-game loan of 18 year-old striker Shane McLoughlin who has impressed in his two pre-season outings.