Players from St Albans and the surrounding district will be the cornerstone of any good times at Colney Heath says new manager Matt Day.

The former Sandridge Rovers boss took over from George Georgiou after the Magpies avoided relegation from the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division on the final day of the season.

And Day, who had a spell at the Recreation Ground as the U23 boss, believes rebuilding the identity of the club as a breeding ground for talented, local youngsters is the way forward.

He said: "When the opportunity comes to manage the club like this, you can’t turn it down. 

"It's a fantastic opportunity for me and it's almost like a reset coming into this club. 

"They didn't have the best of seasons last season, so myself and the management team have been tasked with trying to get the good times back to the club. 

"It's a really good club with solid foundations and a great youth set-up that's obviously going to come into it. 

"What we want to do is get the best local young players to play for Colney Heath. 

"That brings people in through the turnstiles because they want to see local players and they want to see local teams do well. 

"From my perspective, St Albans and Hertfordshire is a hub of good players and if they're not playing for St Albans City, then where are they going? 

"Colney Heath are the next team in regards to the levels of the [pyramid] so we want to make sure that we get them down here and get this club rocking [again].

To do that, Day will be starting from scratch, with everyone on a level footing.

That includes the squad already at the Rec.

He said: "It is a blank canvas from my perspective, that’s how we’ll start pre-season. 

"We don't want to dwell too much on what's happened previously, what we want to do is look forward and that means giving everyone an opportunity. 

"We'll be looking at the local players and looking at the players that have played here before. 

"I want a good mix of experience and young players, that's what we want to build this club on. 

"This club is set-up for good players to play good football, so that’s what we’ll be looking to do." 

The new boss also accepts that losing is part and parcel of football. However, both he and assistant manager Tommy Burns won't accept one thing.

"Commitment is a non-negotiable," he insisted. "Any team I've played for myself or managed, the first thing has got to be commitment. 

"And its commitment to the club, it’s work rate on the pitch, it’s accountability for their own performances and it's making sure that when they come off that pitch, if they've given their absolute all, Tommy and I can have no complaints. 

"We can then look at the other elements to the game to see where we might have fell short. 

"But we’ll be making sure that from the first training session and the first whistle of the first game, that commitment is instilled into our team. 

"It's fundamental that the guys understand that second best from a work rate perspective isn't acceptable. 

"We'll drill that into them and then it's down to them to show what quality they've got on the pitch."