Huntingdon Town go into the new United Counties League season as hot favourites for relegation.

It has been a summer of upheaval at Jubilee Park with changes at boardroom level and footballing problems galore.

Town even considered applying for a voluntary relegation at one stage before opting not to pursue it further.

Therefore they remain in the Premier Division where the lack of a playing budget and local contacts has left boss Ian Edge with a nigh-on impossible task of assembling a squad to be competitive.

The Peterborough-based chief even offered to stand aside, but it was a move quickly rejected by chairman Doug McIlwain and he remains at the helm for the new campaign.

Edge said: “It doesn’t take a genius to work out it is going to be a tough season, but the chairman feels the future can be bright if we can just get through a difficult spell in the short-term.

“A lot of people have told me I’m on a hiding to nothing, but I’ve never shirked a challenge and I will do everything in my power to make sure we can compete on the pitch.

“We had an in-house friendly on Monday night and I’m confident we now have the number of players we need. The next job is to ensure we have the necessary quality.

“I will work hard with everyone in the squad and the aim is to try to be competitive in every game.”

Edge is still finalising his squad with only days to go until his first full season in management gets underway. A trip to newly-promoted Rothwell Corinthians this Saturday is the first of many tough fixtures which await Town in the coming weeks and months.

At least managing expectations won’t be one of the many difficult tasks facing Edge.

He added: “We have been written off by a lot of people already and that is no surprise.

“We are widely expected to go down but we need to try to prove everyone wrong.

“It will be a big success if we can survive and that’s the only goal.”