Dover chairman Jim Parmenter admits he could get “very bitter” if he dwelt on their recent decline in fortunes.

After four tough campaigns which saw Dover drop from National League regulars to life in the Isthmian Premier, things are finally looking up again at Crabble.

The tough times are still fresh in the mind, however. A season cut short by Covid where Mr Parmenter refused to carry on playing games and funding the club out of his own pocket resulted in a hefty fine and points deduction.

That, in turn, led to relegation the following campaign after just two victories in 44 league games. Life didn’t get much better in National League South, the club avoiding the drop on goal difference but then finishing rock bottom with just four wins to their name last term.

So, how does Mr Parmenter reflect on what’s happened?

“There’s a very good saying that Chris Kinnear used to have when he was manager and I’ve carried that on, ‘there’s no future in the past’.” he replied. “That really is the point.

“I could get very bitter about the way I think we were treated by the football authorities through the Covid situation and what damage that did to the football club and how difficult it was for me to keep the club up and running and alive - but we managed it.

“There’s no point in looking back. We’ve got to look forward and we’ve got to do things the right way and take the club forward.

“Before I retired, I ran quite a big business and running a football club is a lot more complicated!”

Playing at step 3 this season has allowed Dover the chance to regroup and start the rebuilding process.

One big building block in that was the appointment during last season of Jake Leberl as manager.

A popular player for Dover and a trusted right-hand man for Chris Kinnear, Leberl knows exactly what the club are about.

It’s a perfect fit in the eyes of the chairman to have a Dover lad in charge.

“It’s massively important,” he added. “Jake is Dover through and through, he’s a local lad and I’ve known him since he was a kid.

“His only interest is doing well for the football club and that’s so important, rather than having people who are just going through the motions or looking for a move. It’s really important to have a manager focused on the club.

“We discussed at that point (when he took over) and the way we wanted to go as a club, the type of players we wanted and how we wanted to do things.

“It was late in the season, we did try to keep us up, but we then already had the plan for this season and were focused on that. So far, that’s paid off really well.

“We work very well together, we bounce ideas off each other. I don’t often argue with him about players, there’s one or two occasions where I’ve said I’m not sure, but most of the time we sing off the same hymn sheet and come to a decision jointly so it works really well.”

As much as Dover are working hard off the pitch to improve facilities and the matchday experience as they look to swell their fanbase again, Mr Parmenter knows that the biggest ‘win’ is on the field.

“You can make everything as comfortable as you can for supporters, you can try and do the right things and they’re a great bunch so it’s right you do that,” he noted.

“But in the end it’s what is happening on the pitch that creates the good feeling around the club. It’s a matter of confidence and entertaining, that’s what we’re here for. We’re here to entertain people.”

Maybe those outside Crabble see Dover’s current standing as just punishment for what went before, for refusing to carry on playing while everyone else did, even though it would have been Mr Parmenter who had to fund it. Maybe they have moved on, as well.

Whatever the thought process, there seems to have been a general shift in attitude towards Dover already this season.

“It’s changing quite a lot,” said the chairman. “I think that was born from the fact that during my time Dover has been quite a successful club.

“There’s been quite a lot of, I don’t want to use the word jealousy, but it was always looked upon as a club to have a pop at.

“Then when a club that’s been successful falls on hard times, people tend to enjoy having a go.

“But we’ve managed to change that and I don’t see very much negativity around the club now, either by supporters or the rhetoric we had on social media before, that seems to have disappeared.

“Things are going well and we’re doing things properly.”

So where does he see the long-term?

“That’s always difficult to say in a football club,” he added.

“You never know when you’re going to get investment, you never know what’s going to happen.

“What we’re looking at now is to stabilise the club, we’re financially stable and we need to build it slowly with a very strong platform. We’ll take a look at promotion as and when it becomes an opportunity.

Read more: Parmenter wants Dover to be the entertainers

“But it’s only September and we don’t need to worry too much about that until we get to March or April and then if we’re still in a good position, we’ll start to think about where we go.

“We will lose games, we’re not going to win every game and we’re not going to score four goals every game.

“The hope is people won’t then turn a short-term loss into a big negativity again. No football club wins every game.”

Second-placed Dover are away to Carshalton on Saturday.