Terry Brown aims to invoke some of the old Wimbledon spirit this season as he looks to turn his Blue Square Premier nearly-men into play-off contenders.

Having sized things up with a creditable mid-table finish last season, the Dons boss has targeted midfield hard men as the key to turning things around.

And Brown reckons the signing of Tonbridge Angels’ Lee Minshull is just the start of his plans.

He said: “I learned a lot last year and the key to being a good manager is to be flexible.

“It was very obvious when you watch games like the one at York, where we lost 5-0, that we just did not compete well enough.

“It is all very nice trying to play football, but you cannot begin to do that unless you are competitive all over the pitch.

“Last season we were far too easily pushed off the ball, but that will not happen this time around.

“I want midfield players who are going to put their foot in and then we shall take things from there.”

Despite his desire to step up his side’s physicality, Brown is adamant he will also stick to the attacking principles that served his side so well in patches last year.

And with Andre Blackman and Mark Nwokeji also having made their way to Kingsmeadow, the Wimbledon manager is happy with what he has at his disposal.

Brown added: “The aim going forward is for us to go with a 4-3-3 formation this season as our game is centred on getting at teams.

“But as a manager you have to be flexible, as this World Cup has shown.

“You have to be able to adapt to circumstances, to the team you are up against and to the players you have at your disposal.

“We will be running with an 18-man squad this season so it really will be a case of taking it game by game.”

With three summer signings to date, and with a centre-half likely to add to that by week’s end, Brown is satisfied with what he has achieved thus far.

But the Dons boss admits it has been far from an easy ride so far this off-season.

Brown added: “It has actually been quite a frustrating time and we have been blanked on quite a few occasions.

“But if you set your aims high, like we have, you are going to get turned down by a lot of people.

“It is not something I am too worried about although I will be able to sleep easier when we get a few of these guys signed up.”