Three months after walking away from Colney Heath, Wes Awad is back in charge and looking to build on the club’s best ever season.

The 2013/14 campaign was a huge success for the Magpies as they finished third in the SSML Premier Division, their highest ever league place, and won the Herts FA Charity Shield.

It was as far as Awad believed he could take the club and he stepped down from his role as first-team manager. But, after seeing the work the club is putting in behind the scenes and the players’ “pulling on his heart strings” he returned for another shot at getting Heath into the Southern League.

“I didn’t feel I could take the club any further,” explained Awad.

“But I sat down with the chairman [Martin Marlborough] and he said he wants to progress the club and match my ambition as a manager. They have invested in the team on and off the pitch to get the club to the next level.

“It was a big effort from the club and the players’ pulled on my heart strings saying ‘let’s give it another good go’.”

He added: “The ambition is to improve on last year. We’d like to win the league but it will be tough.”

Back in charge of the team, Awad quickly went about trying to bolster the squad in order to make another run at promotion in a division that he is expecting to be more competitive than last year.

One of his main focuses has been adding competition for places.

“We’ve got good depth to the squad which is really important to avoid complacency,” explained Awad.

“In a few games last year we were stretching numbers and playing lads that weren’t fully fit. This year I want to only play players in form – for us to be successful this season we need everyone to give everything they have got.”

Heath’s players’ first chance to impress Awad in the league comes on Saturday when they welcome Kings Langley to the Recreation Ground (3pm kick-off).