CHAIRMAN Paul Harrison hopes the appointment of local managers will dispel perceptions Littleton "is the Chelsea of Midland Football League Division One".

The Five Acres chief revealed Martin Schembri, who was in charge of Stratford Alliance outfit Badsey United last season, and ex-Bromyard Town boss Nick Smith had been appointed to replace John Edwards.

Schembri lives in the Evesham area while Smith hails from Worcester, addressing the issues that caused Redditch-based Edwards to quit when the curtain came down on 2017-18 last month.

And having opted for a set-up from closer to home, Harrison wants Littleton's rivals to finally accept he is no Roman Abramovich.

“Both were very keen and I know Martin has run Badsey United from top to bottom for years,” said Harrison.

“We needed an influx of assistance off the field as well as a management team. Martin gives us that, he is local and hopefully we can recruit players from the immediate area.

“Nick is based in Worcester which will give us a broader range where they feel appropriate. They have come in as a pair.

“We interviewed four applicants and another one was Quentin (Townsend, in charge of Pershore Town last season) before he got the Stourport Swifts job.

"The others were of Midland Football League standard but based to the north of Evesham and that brings its own issues as we have found a few times in recent years.

"We wanted to be careful about repeating a situation where players travelled 30-plus miles for home games. Over time, they found it difficult to manage.

“We wanted to take a more local approach, a bit like Pershore has."

Harrison also estimates cutting in half the provision for player expenses at the Ton Boys but the new duo has still been set the target of a mid-table finish.

“We reached the conclusion several months ago that we cannot run a club which anticipates winning this league. It is not viable for us," said Harrison.

“There are too many big hitters in it. We are hoping to finish mid-table and if we can, we will have done well.

“We are reining in the expenses, I think we will probably be halving it.

“Over the past few years there has been a theory that Littleton is the Chelsea of Midland Football League Division One.

"That has never been the case and we will be even further away from it this season."