HEREFORD United’s new manager Simon Davey insists the Edgar Street club are not League 2 minnows.

The former Barnsley and Darlington chief says United can be competitive in the division next season.

Davey spoke to the media last Friday about his hopes for the new campaign.

“I don’t see us a minnow in this division,” he said. “I can see us as a club who can compete.

“The players can expect 100% commitment from me and I’ll expect a discipline and professionalism and had work from them.”

“If the players can look in the mirror at 6pm on a Saturday night and say they have given 100%, they will get a handshake from me.”

The 39-year-old said his role at United was a fantastic opportunity.

“I looked at a new owner, a new board and their ambition matched my ambition. I want to get as high up in the division as I possibly can.

“The plans are very ambitious and the budget was a competitive budget to compete in this division.

“I am happy to get back into the Football League with a club that are moving forward.”

Davey said he liked his teams to play passing football and entertain the supporters.

“I like to play with three strikers but it depends on the players we recruit. I need to make sure the players can fit in to any system.

“We have got six players from last season and we can build on that.

“I like to play attacking football but I also like to win games so sometimes you have to sacrifice the attacking style of play to win a football match.

“I will try to bring a group of players together who will be fit, strong and technically able to cope with League 2 so that we can be competing at the top end.

“We need to field 18 players every week and the ideal scenario is about 20 players.”

“It’s a fresh start and Graham Turner has done a fantastic job here and sometimes change is for the better. Hopefully, I can improve and take the club to the next stage.”

The new United boss saw his playing days curtailed by injury and started worked as a youth coach at Preston North End.

“When I got the coach’s role at Preston I worked under a fantastic manager, David Moyes, who would look to other sources for ideas.

“I made sure I got the right qualifications - so I got to my Pro Licence and it took me seven years.

“I have also made sure that I studied all over the world.

“I went to Metz in France and I have been over to the USA and have a lot of contacts there.

“I studied the basketball stuff and the NFL stuff to see what sort of training methods they use, how they treat the players, match analysis and the environment of the dressing room.

“ I have made an effort to study other people over the last nine years.”

Davey started learning Spanish when he was at Barnsley and has not ruled out signing foreign players.

“I am not closing the door on any sort of market. At Darlington we signed a German player.

“Sometimes you have to be competitive and a lot of the British players, unfortunately price themselves out of the market whether it’s in the Championship or League 2.

“At Barnsley, at one stage, I had 13 or 14 different nationalities in the squad.

“I won’t say there will be an influx of South Americans coming through the door next week but there will be one or two.”

The Bulls’ boss said he thought Rochdale were the outstanding team in League 2 last season.

“I looked at the division and there was very little between the teams last season.

“Rochdale were probably my standout team in the division and they were probably better than Notts County even though they got pipped at the end.

“There were only two teams who ran away with that division. If we get it right with the squad we are recruiting, there’s no reason we can’t be competing in the top half of the table.”