STREVS STRIVES FOR PROGRESS!

BEN STREVENS reckons players are realising they can be Made in Dagenham again.

- Matt Badcock

With new owners recently taking over, the club moving into a brand new training facilities at Parsloes Park and a fresh recruitment structure in place led by new sporting director James King, Dagenham & Redbridge boss Strevens feels the future is bright.

And the former Eastleigh chief says re-enforcing the whole infrastructure is already showing signs of paying off when it comes to getting new faces in the building.

"The academy systems are amazing now at football clubs so any that come through academies will have been training at really good training grounds and getting lots of stuff done for them off the field," says Strevens, who was part of Daggers' promotion to the Football League as a player in 2005.

"When you come to the first team environment and they will still expect those things.

"I look back when how many years ago when I signed for Dagenham and it was meeting Stilly (manager John Still), signing, ending up at the training ground and getting going.

Characteristics

"This summer we've met boys, showed them around the ground, took them to the training ground, put recruitment videos together to show why we've identified them in terms of their characteristics we like about them and where we think they can fit into our team.