Leatherhead boss Richard Brady is in the strange position of knowing all but one of the squad that will start the new Ryman Premier Division season.

Not one player has left Fetcham Grove over the summer, and Brady has recruited one new man in striker Phil Walsh.

Unlike last summer, when the Tanners started the season still having to embed a host of new names, Brady already has a settled dressing room.

It means the pre-season friendly games, including last night’s 3-1 defeat at Three Bridges (Wednesday), are all about rebuilding match fitness.

Leatherhead: Walsh is the main man

He said: “All the players know eachother and we have a good bunch of lads in a settled dressing room.

“Some of the players have been here for four or five seasons so the cohesiveness should be there already – we’re just getting the lads match fit so we can start the season strongly.”

He added: “It is so very different to last season after we won promotion when we lost a host of players looking to take a step up.

“You then have to spend the opening games of the season still working on shapes and organisation, which is not ideal.”

One name that Brady was expecting to lose was striker Vas Karagiannis, who had been approached by clubs higher up the pyramid.

Brady said: “I thought ‘fair enough’ he’s going, but it says a lot about the club and the guys in the dressing room that he wants to stay.”

The Ryman Premier Division fixtures were released today (Thursday) – the Tanners host Lewes in the season’s opener on August 8, ahead of trips to Kingstonian (August 10) and Staines Town (August 15).