Kingstonian boss Alan Dowson has given the biggest indication yet that he will leave the club after one last shot at promotion.

While Dowson insisted he is concentrating on building a team that will be an improvement on last term’s disappointment, the 42-year-old admitted he will not be at Kingsmeadow forever.

After six years in the hot seat, Dowson has one more year on his contract – suggesting that goalkeeper Rob Tolfrey’s belief, revealed last week, that this season will be Dowson’s last is not without foundation.

Dowson said: “Let’s put our cards on the table – I am not going to be at Kingstonian forever.

“I have had a good time here. My contract comes to an end after this season and, in the back of my mind, I have made up my mind, but right now I am all about getting a competitive team ready for the start of the season.

“It’s been a great journey. We got Ks when they had won two in 25 games, we kept them up, we won the championship, we made the play-offs and, for the past two seasons, we’ve been in the top 11.

"Last year is the first year where I think we have underachieved, whereas I think, in the past, we have over-achieved.

“But you can read between the lines. You cannot be at a football club forever. Management needs freshening up, the club needs freshening up – I have another year to give it a right go.”

Dowson has not long returned from holiday and is in the midst of organising the comings and goings at Kingsmeadow.

And he said it will be at least a fortnight before the squad starts to take shape ahead of the new Ryman Premier season.

He said: “Pre-season is an odd time and it is not really worth talking about players. Unless you get a contract signed, the players are free to do what they want and you could talk to a lad, he says he’s happy to join, and then he goes somewhere else.

“Hopefully, things will become a little clearer in the next couple of weeks, but at the moment, if I say I want this or that player, all of a sudden, 10 other clubs start showing an interest.

“All I can say right now is that there will be a lot of new players coming in.”