Hucknall Town hoping to sign quality new trio

The trio are all expected to attend the start of pre-season training this weekend and he is hopeful he can persuade them to commit to the club.

“There will be three new faces on Saturday though nothing is signed and sealed yet – a striker, a winger and a midfielder,” he said.

“If they sign I would expect all three to be challenging for a first team place. Two of them are from a professional background, one is quite well know.

“But I am not divulging any names as yet in case someone sweeps in and pinches them.

“Fingers crossed they will sign and that will be a real positive.

“They will slot into the three key areas we need to strengthen.”

Graves does have back-up possibilities and said: “If we can sign the three new faces, there are also also a couple of others who have expressed an interest in coming along.

“Out of those five or six, if I can sign three, that's probably all I will need to add to the squad though you never know what's around the corner.

“If the quality that's coming in settles, wants to be with us and can see what we are all about then I will be more than happy.

“I also have most of my lads from the last two seasons.”

He added: “I would imagine I will go with a squad of about 18 and of them there will be couple of young lads from the reserves I’d have no trouble using next season if need be.”

Graves said places were up for grabs.

“For everybody, from Saturday we all start from scratch and it's dog eat dog. Perform and you've got a good chance of starting,” he said.

“But we will be going back to our philosophy from when we got promoted from the Central Midlands League in our last full season and use rotation. So if they are all fit they need to buy into that philosophy.

“We will probably have a couple of positions where you can have an extended run, but we will make the changes as and when we feel necessary. They are all part of the squad and they are all valuable.”