Kings are back in the Premier Division of the Cheltenham League and manager Simon Dempster is looking forward to their return to the top flight.

They’ve already played one competitive game this season – at home to the Charlton Rovers in a Junior Charities Cup group match – and their first game in the Premier Division sees them host  Tewkesbury Town Reserves a week tomorrow.

Kings finished third in Division One last season but a restructuring of the league meant that both they and fourth-placed Charlton Rovers were promoted alongside champions Montpellier and runners-up Tewkesbury Town Reserves.

“We’re looking forward to the new season,” said Dempster, who has been manager for the past four years.

“We’re going to be tested this year, there are some good sides in the division – Tewkesbury, Montpellier, Bishop’s Cleeve A.

“Last season we probably only had four hard games when we played the top two. I think the aim this season has to be to finish mid-table."

The Premier Division is made up of nine teams – the other eight play their first league fixtures tomorrow – and Dempster knows what to expect because he has been involved with Kings for a long time.

“We were always in the top division of the Cheltenham League,” said 43-year-old Dempster, who first played for the club when he was 15.

“We only dropped down a division when the league was restructured.”

Dempster was a midfielder back in the day and he will be looking to two of his current midfielders – John Edwards and Andy Tetlow – to have a big influence this season.

“John is our captain, they’re both good players,” continued Dempster. “We like to play 4-3-3, we’re reasonably strong in most areas.”

The club, who play their home games on the 4G pitch at Oxstalls Sports Centre, have a squad of about 22 players.

Dempster will be full-on, of course, but it’s something the one-time Sir Thomas Rich’s School pupil is used to because he was captain of the club for some 15 years.

These days he also plays for the club’s veterans’ team who play in North Division Two of the Gloucestershire Veterans League. The team are managed by ex-first team boss Andy Davis.