Neil Carpenter has been propping up Cheltenham North packs for the best part of 30 years.

The loosehead was a regular in the 1st XV again last season but this time around, at the age of 49, he is hoping that he won’t need his boots when he heads down to Stoke Road on a Saturday afternoon.

“I’ve been at the club since I was 12 and I’ve been in the 1st XV pretty much ever since I was 18,” he said with justifiable pride. “I’ve been an ever-present in the side for all those years except one season about four or five years ago when I tried to retire!”

That didn’t happen back then but if Carpenter really is serious about hanging up his boots – or at least drastically reducing the amount of time he spends playing this season – then he’s got a lot more chance of making it happen this time around.

That’s because he has just taken on the role of senior rugby manager at the Gloucester One club and his new position will entitle him to some say in the make-up of the club’s teams.

“Yes, I’ll be on the selection committee,” he laughed. “Our coach James Wilkins will have the final say but if I see my name put forward I’ll just scratch it out!”

Carpenter may not want to be digging out his gumshield as much this season but one thing is for sure, if the club needs him to play he will.

The one-club man is passionate about restoring the North to a level that they have played at in the not so recent past.

They dominated the Cheltenham Combination cup competitions for much of the 1980s and 1990s and have risen to as high as South West Two in the league structure.

It’s a long way back to those heady days, of course, but Carpenter is certainly up for the challenge after last season’s disappointment of relegation.

“Our ideal is to get promoted and then take it on in the following season,” he said. “We’re a good side if we get our strongest side out.

“We had a lot of injuries and unavailabilities which didn’t help. Obviously you can’t do anything about the injuries but we need to cut down the amount of unavailabilities.”

Carpenter believes that another thing that didn’t help the North was the switch back to the South West League after several years playing in the Midlands League.

“I think the Gloucester Premier was a bit of a culture shock for some of the players,” he said. “I don’t think they realised how hard it was going to be. There were local derbies almost every week and everyone wants to beat you for bragging rights.”

Carpenter has taken over his new role at the club from club stalwart Malcolm Kedward.

“He was my apprentice,” laughed Kedward, “I’m handing the baton over to him.”

So, what prompted him to take on the job?

“I’m pretty close to the playing side and it seemed like a natural step,” he said. “I haven’t got any real coaching qualifications so this is something that best suits me. I wanted to stay involved.”

Carpenter is looking forward to working closely with skipper and hooker George Salter.

He took over as captain midway through last season and Carpenter said: “He’s a very good communicator and a very good leader of players.

“He comes across very well with referees and he’s a good player. He leads from the front.”

Off the field the club have big plans to convert their single-story clubhouse at Stoke Orchard into a two-storey building and Carpenter said: “Our performances on the pitch must match our ambitions off it.”

If anyone can help make that happen, then it’s surely Neil Carpenter.