The planning has already started for Dartford manager Ady Pennock.

The Darts were relegated from National League South after a 3-1 defeat at champions Yeovil last Saturday.

“I started a month ago,” explained Pennock. “I’ve only been there six weeks or so but I was planning for whatever league we would be in.

“I knew the situation and there was a possibility we might get relegated so I was planning for that scenario and I was planning for if we’d stayed in the league as well.

“That’s something you have to do, I don’t think you can wait until the last game of the season or two or three weeks into the off-season. You’ve got to be forward-thinking and I was planning for both scenarios.

“It’s very disappointing. It’s a very good football club and for one reason or another this year something has gone wrong.

“I’m not one to point fingers at anybody and I won’t start doing it now. It’s very rare that you hear Dartford as a football club do get it wrong.

“They’ve been in the National League or Conference South for a long time. What we’ve got to do now, from top to bottom - and that’s me included - is we’ve got to regroup and learn by the mistakes that the club has made. We’ll go again and start afresh in August.”

Pennock was only appointed at the start of March but it proved a thankless task as he inherited a squad lacking in quality and fitness.

There was a sense of inevitability even before the new man came through the door and, despite an improvement in performances, Pennock has been unable to turn the ship around.

It’s now just two wins in 21 league matches for Dartford, a run stretching back to the end of last year.

He’ll rightly be judged on how he turns Dartford around during the close season ahead of what the club will hope is a promotion-chasing campaign in the Isthmian Premier.

“The directors were very honest with me, I knew what I was inheriting,” said Pennock. “It wasn’t through lack of effort, it was just lack of quality.

“The table never lies, people are champions for a reason and people get relegated for a reason. We’ve got to learn from that. I knew when I was coming in that it was going to be extremely difficult.

“I had five training sessions and last week we only had 13 fit players at training before the Yeovil game as the rest were injured.”

Dartford join Dover and big-spending Havant in falling through the relegation trapdoor this season.

That’s three big clubs who will be plying their trade at Step 3 come August, and Pennock warned it’s what can happen if you don’t get it right.

“If you look at Yeovil, 10 years ago they were in the Championship so people do get it wrong at other clubs as well,” he noted.

“We’ve got to learn very quickly. Havant have got one of the biggest budgets in the league so it’s not about money. Look at Dover, they’re a big club, Dartford are a big club. But when you don’t get it right, it doesn’t go well for you.

“Yes, they’re big clubs going down and Eastbourne or Torquay were not out of it going into the last week or so as well but all I’m worried about is us - it’s going to be a busy summer for me.”

Dartford’s fate was effectively sealed well before the trip to Yeovil, who celebrated winning the title with more than 5,500 fans watching on.

Luke Coulson’s early goal gave Dartford hope of causing an upset but the hosts hit back to show why they’re champions.

“We had a go and when you go one-up, I said to the players the next 10 minutes in any game are so important in that you don’t concede and we conceded very quickly,” reflected Pennock.

“Sometimes it was men against boys, I can’t fault the effort and the players were obviously disappointed. Yeovil were very strong, I’ve said before that you have to put your hands up when you’re beaten by a better side and Yeovil were better than us.

“We needed a small miracle. It wasn’t just our results, we had to rely on other games. When you’re relying on other results, it’s out of your hands and it’s very tough.”