JEFF Roberts is hoping he can lay the foundations for future success at Southbank after returning to management with Corsham Town.

Former Calne Town and Wootton Bassett Town boss Roberts, who helps run a construction company in Swindon, took a sabbatical last term but has been appointed as Corsham’s new manager after the club parted ways with Trevor Rawlings earlier this month.

Ant Brown and Graham Learmonth will stay on as part of Roberts’ management team and the incoming Southbank chief is braced for a rebuilding job but doesn’t want to rock the boat with an influx of Swindon-based players.

“I took a year off, mostly because we were building a new house, but after about six months, I did start to miss it,” said Roberts.

“I think the Western League is a good league and I’m glad to be back.

“I’ve spoken to 10 or 11 players already but I don’t want to bring a load of guys from Swindon over with me because it’s a tightly-knit club and we want to keep the nucleus of the squad that was already there.

“There are also a few former players from places like Bath and Chippenham that are interested in coming back. We want to try and get the youth involved too. It will take some time to rebuild and we haven’t got a budget but hopefully I can be the right man for the job.”

Corsham chairman Ken Baldwin says he and his committee were keen for a change after Rawlings’ four seasons in charge and are also hoping that Roberts will spearhead their new link-up with local youth outfit AFC Corsham.

“The squad had become a bit bedraggled towards the end of last season and the committee felt that we needed to freshen things up,” said Baldwin.

“We had three very good interviewees and it was touch and go but we wanted to go for someone who had Western League experience and Jeff was actually a Corsham Town player many moons ago.

“We wanted to go local but I know that Jeff is from Swindon and sometimes you have to make an exception to the rule.

“I think everyone’s excited for a bit of change and we want to try and get the crowds back in through the door. We’ve already had a few former players asking about coming back too because they heard things would be changing.

“We approached AFC Corsham and they approached us too. When players hit 17, they get lost to other clubs but they should be coming to us because we’re the senior club in the town and we want to try and make that happen.”