Montpellier Football Club have regrouped and they are ready to go again in the coming campaign.

Last season’s runaway Cheltenham League Division One champions have had a difficult summer, so much so that they will not be competing in the Premier Division in 2024/25.

“Our manager left in the summer for personal reasons and we also lost a lot of players,” explained club secretary James Lee.

“It’s disappointing but we’ve made the decision to play in Division One for the stability of the club.”

Montpellier ran two sides last season – their reserves finished third in Division Two – and their first team this season will be made up mainly of last season’s reserve team.

They have disbanded their reserves and Lee continued: “The aim this season is to be competitive in Division One.

“We’ve managed to keep three or four first-team players and to be fair to the players who left, most of them have gone to play at a higher level.”

Joey Cuneen, who was assistant to Mike Hackett last season, will be joint manager with Scott Edginton and the optimism is certainly returning to a club who have been winning trophies for fun since joining the Cheltenham League three season ago.

“We’ve got a good pool of players,” said Lee, who will play this season when needed. “We’ll be looking to have 16 players in the squad each week.

“We’re still very strong, we’re more than happy with where we are now after what happened in the summer.

“Because of our set-up at Prior’s Park, we’re still in a good position.”

Montpellier begin their campaign in the 11-strong Division One at home to Bishop’s Cleeve B on Saturday.

The Premier Division is made up of eight teams and there are 13 sides competing in Division Two.