A rough guide to the changes that have taken place since the end of last season …

ON THE BENCH

The mood might be slightly less intense this year. George’s demands were too much for some players, who struggled to attain the fitness levels he demanded (and exhibited). It felt a bit like the back end of Klopp-era Liverpool: you can only maintain that level of intensity for so long before you burn out.

Craig Fagan is less of an obvious showman, politely applauding fans rather than running round the pitch like a personal trainer, although you can’t imagine George calling someone out on Twitter over a transfer rumour. The intense stare was more his style.

We’re told the style of football will be more exciting. Let’s hope this approach survives the first contact with a defeat sustained when we’re going for it in stoppage time and leave our back doors open, but more realistically the same canine-molesters who were singing “Elokobi, your football is shit,” will immediately pivot to a demand for catenaccio as soon as this happens.

Craig’s number two is Rob Tuvey, who’ll be part of a significantly smaller backroom staff than he was at Dorking, where they needed a minibus for all Marc White’s assistants.

OUT…

The departures weren’t quite as predictable as the season before, when the vultures never stopped circling…

Moving up: TJ Bramble and John Gilbert have both gone to the National League, joining Tamworth and Aldershot respectively. Hamzad Kargbo, who looked limited but still regularly stuck the ball in the onion sack, has gone to Inverness, the second tier of Scottish football. Whether you regard this a step-up, of course, is subjective.

Staying at this level: Sam Corne, Lexus Beeden, Jephte Tanga and Nathan Harness have all ended up at Tonbridge, which does seem a bit Jed Maxwell.

Corne was a surprise. Maidstone wanted to keep him, but on terms that reflected his injury-hit contribution to the previous season, which explains why he went for a better deal. Tanga was also something of a surprise, although he did something similar by fucking off to Gravesend two years ago.

Harness was released because Holden was being promoted, while Beeden allegedly might have stayed until a post-match strop at Bath.

Jamie Yila, maybe surprisingly, wasn’t kept on and ended up at Horsham, but you do get the feeling he fell into the high-maintenance category. Very effective when he played, but he missed half the season and then there was the Maidenhead incident, when he turned up having failed to, as Shaw Taylor might have put it: “keep ‘em sealed”. David Agbontohoma has gone to Hemel Hempstead. David Sesay is reportedly joining him, not long after the UK’s leading Transfer Bullshit account said Chelmsford were “leading the race” to sign him.

Dropping down: Christie Pattisson played with AFC Greenwich Borough in pre-season, alongside former Stones attacker Josh Shonibare.

STAYING PUT

George Fowler is now the club’s longest-serving player and would have been the logical choice for captain in any case.

If he plays as well as he did last year, Riley Court will be in the Football League before too long, so enjoy him while he’s here.

Taylor Foran looked like a leader from the moment he stepped on to the pitch at half-time at Dagenham. Lenny Holden dethroned Nathan Harness at the end of last season and is now the undisputed number one. Leo Hamblin kicked on a lot last year after a mixed start. Mark Boruk broke into the team at the very end of last season, scored the stoppage time winner at Bath and is still here, despite the UK’s leading non-league bullshit account linking him with a move to Blackburn.

YET TO RESURFACE

The players you have to feel sorry for are the ones injured in the line of duty last year. The highest profile was Mo Faal, who we all thought was on an 18-month deal, but was released after he did his ACL and who won’t be fit for several months. Dajon Golding’s season was ended by an arsehole’s challenge in a Kent Senior Cup tie with Gravesend (update: he’s now at Farnborough) and Ruben Carvalho never got the chance to show us what he could do for more than a handful of games. Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong made one of his end-of-season cameos and almost certainly wishes he hadn’t, having been stretchered off at Horsham. His Instagram posts show him teaching himself to walk again.

There’s no sign of Malachi Mbogba having signed for anyone yet.

COMING IN

Ken Charles looks like a proper striker and Ryan Hanson has immediately been named vice-captain, which says a lot about what the management think about him.

Tom Leahy looked all right in his first spell and is back after a year at Longmead. Nana Boateng was with us for a month before he signed, which didn’t stop the non-league’s leading bullshitter from “twanking” (V: to big oneself up on Twitter) when the deal was finally announced.

Dermi Lusala, Frankie Hvid, Alfie Tuck, Jayden Davis and Leone Gravata all looked solid in pre-season.

The best story is that of the new keeper Lucas Brookman, who attended a soccer school when he was five and is now the number two keeper.