I just thought I’d make a comment regarding the latest departures from the club because, obviously I am not naïve, when you have four players leave a club in the space of a week people think there must be pandemonium and unrest but that’s far from the case.

Two of them are quite understandable and to be honest I probably would’ve done the same thing if I was them. One of them is Jarred [Trespaderne] who got offered a very, very good job in a different area, and part of the deal was that he’d play football for the Chairman’s football club, which is fine. I have no issues with that and as I said to Jaz, I fully understand his decision and he’s moved on with our blessing.

The other one is Toby [Ajala] – and as was mentioned in the initial announcement – Faversham had come in for him. Everybody knows what’s going on down at Faversham at the moment so I fully expected Toby to accept their offer and move on. Obviously I don’t like it, but I have to respect it because it was a fantastic offer for Toby.

To be honest, Mamadou was a complete surprise to me, he’s got a bit of work up in London and just said he wouldn’t be around for a while. I said ok, no worries, but I’ve kept his registration and we’ll see what happens when his work calms down. I am hoping that truly is the reason because Mamadou has been an ever-present at this club for a while now and up until the Faversham game he was starting. We opted for Tariq [Ossai] on the Boxing Day and then Mamadou went to Portugal for a week or 10 days and missed the Sheppey game, came back on the Saturday just gone and then let me know on the Sunday of his work commitments. Again, I’m hoping that once his work stops he can be back with us if that is the reason.

Mikey [Dalton] called me yesterday [Monday] and was honest enough to tell me that, since he’s come back from Australia, he hasn’t been enjoying his football and is finding it hard to settle. So either he wants to take a bit of time out or he wants to go and play with some of his mates to try and get some enjoyment back out of it. Again, if that’s the reason then I have no problems with that. I’ve also held his registration and I’d welcome him back once he’s decided what he wants to do.

I tried to get both Mamadou and Mikey to have a final sweat against Tonbridge Angels so we could get the friendly going ahead, but look, we couldn’t afford to take the fixture on.

These are just the honest reasons as to why they’ve left, there’s no uproar or unrest in our camp. If anything, situations like this will bring the changing room closer together. We’ve still got a very good squad but obviously we’re looking to strengthen again now in the midfield area.

I just wanted to put a statement out because this isn’t panic mode for us, yes it’s very unusual, but listen this has been a very unusual season for us recruitment wise and yet again we find ourselves looking for players. The number of players we’ve brought in this year has been far, far more than I’ve ever done before, but If you go back to all of our departures this season there has always been an explanation or reason as to why. I know losing four in one go is sort of unheard of but I’ve fully explained them now so there’s certainly no papering over the cracks. Then finally, with things like this, you find out who’s really up for a fight. With me, it’s made me more determined than ever to make a success of this season and we’ve got to remind ourselves that we’re still in the mix.

Tommy Warrilow.