Ebbsfleet vice-chairman Peter Varney has the full confidence of owner Dr Abdulla Al-Humaidi as the club prepares for its third season of the KEH Sports era.

With Dr Al-Humaidi based in Kuwait, the day-to-day running of the club is largely Mr Varney’s responsibility.

Since the KEH takeover from MyFootballClub two years ago, Fleet have employed four managers and promotion back to non-league’s top flight has so far eluded them.

But that doesn’t mean Dr Al-Humaidi has lost any faith in the men who run the club while he’s in the Middle East.

He said: "Peter Varney is the executive vice-chairman and he takes most of the decisions. Whenever there’s a big decision, of course the board gets involved but on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis, Peter makes the decisions.

"I’m happy with the way things are running. Peter’s done a tremendous job with Dave Archer and the rest of the staff at the football club.

"If you remember the football club just after we took over, it was a complete mess – the finances, the pitch, the stands, everything was a complete mess.

"I’m happy with the effort Peter has put in. He was executive vice-chairman at Charlton but that was a different ball game. He’s learning every day, the same way I’m learning every day.

"We’re on a learning curve and I hope ours is quicker than others – that we learn from our mistakes."

So what has Dr Al-Humaidi learned about running a football club since the buyout in 2013?

He said: “It’s not a simple job. It’s difficult and you can’t guarantee success.

“One thing that’s evident is that all the other teams in our division consider Ebbsfleet as the team to beat.

“They do their best when they play against us and that’s proved difficult – but it shouldn’t be an excuse. If we want promotion, we have to win most of our matches.”

Read the full interview in the Gravesend Messenger.