STEVE Yeardley believes that it will take nearly a month for Wootton Bassett Town to start reaping the benefits of their new look squad.

The experienced defender is the only player from last season’s side to remain at the club following the resignation of Jeff Roberts in the summer.

And while the 29-year-old feels that more of last year’s team should have remained with the Corinium Stadium-based outfit, he is excited by the squad that new boss Paul Braithwaite has put together.

“There was a bit of mass exodus, wasn’t there?” Yeardley told the Advertiser. “I think a few more of them should have stayed but that was their choice.

“Paul has done a good job in rebuilding the side and I’m quite excited by it, but I do think that it will take three to four weeks for us to gel together properly.”

Many of the new faces at Bassett have come from Braithwaite’s former club Fairford Town, and while they are making the step up to the Hellenic League Premier Division the defender is confident that they can make the grade.

“Many of the new lads have only played Division One West and Wiltshire League but to be honest they could have been playing at this level before now,” Yeardley said.

“They are still young and they are only going to get better. A few of them might find it tough to start with, but I’m confident that they can do well.”

Yeardley has also been impressed with how Braithwaite has taken to his role at Bassett.

“It is has been tough for Paul, he has looked to keep about five of the squad from last year and they left,” the defender added.

“But he has gone about doing things the right way. We have been working hard in training and he is a good man manager.

“If we can grind a few results out at the start of the season while we are all getting used to each other, then I’m sure we’ll be OK - one thing I can say is that we are going to be well-structured and organised.

“If we can achieve what we did last season - remember we are not paying any money this year -then we will have done well.”