Dover chairman Jim Parmenter and player-manager Andy Hessenthaler were this week attempting to convince former Gillingham favourite Nicky Southall that his future lies at Crabble.

The 37-year-old midfielder played for Dover in friendlies against Barnet on Saturday, and Maidstone on Tuesday, increasing speculation that he is poised to bolster the club’s forthcoming campaign in Blue Square South.

Since his release by Gillingham, Southall has expressed a desire to remain in the Football League, although his friendship and business partnership with Hessenthaler made it a possibility that he could join Dover.

Hessenthaler said: "The chairman and myself will sit down with Nicky this week, look at the playing budget and explore the possibility of him joining us.

"I’m hopeful that a deal can be done which would be a terrific boost to the squad because of his experience.

"Nicky’s been offered jobs outside of football which would soften any problems he might have switching to part-time football.

"We could have a problem in that our right-back Matt Fish could be out through injury for two to three months so Nicky would be the perfect replacement."

Southall, who is equally at home in defence or midfield, started his career with Hartlepool before moving on to play for Grimsby, Bolton, Norwich (loan), Nottingham Forest and Gillingham.