Redhill captain Jason Barton has left the club to sign for Ryman League side Walton & Hersham.

Barton, who rejoined the Reds towards the end of last season after a spell in the Kent League has followed ex-manager John Crumplin to the club.

Crumplin quit the Lobsters at the end of the season after seven months in charge at Kiln Brow and this is the first time he has returned to sign one of his former squad so far.

However, the news will be a blow to new manager Dean Forbes who had hoped to have the majority of last season's squad available for pre-season.

He said: "Jason is a player that I wanted to keep. He is proven at this level and will be a big loss for us on the pitch.

"He was a good talker and an experienced head to compliment some of the good young players we have coming through the system.

"He won't be easy to replace as players of his calibre want to play at a higher level and be paid as much money as possible, and at the moment we can't really offer either."

However, Forbes added that he is delighted with the progress the club is making off the pitch, insisting his backroom team assembled is as good as he could have hoped for.

Forbes will be assisted by former Croydon Athletic youth team coach Marcus Alcindor and he has also secured the services of the highly rated Scott Ellis as first team coach.

"Marcus has been around football at this level for a long while so he knows what it takes. He's also a great guy to have around the dressing room so I'm delighted to have him on board," said Forbes.

"He's also been mainly involved with U18s football recently which is actually good for us as we're looking to pick up talented young players.

"I'm also really pleased to have got Scott to come to us. He is only 26 but is a very talented coach and also a modern coach. He's organised the pre-season and it has been no long runs at all but lots of short sprints and things like that."

Forbes will also be assisted by Janet Creighton who takes up the position of head of first team operations.

"Janet will run everything to do with the first team that isn't on the pitch. She'll sort out the meet times and organise transport, food, and things like that.

"Basically anything that frees me up to work out how we can win more football matches."