Winchester Castle manager Stew Beck is keeping his cards very close to his chest as he constructs his Puma Engineering Hampshire Premier League Senior Division outfit for next season.

Beck, who led Castle to an eighth-place finish last term, is lining up three key signings that will make a big statement to the rest of the division.

The boss has charged himself with winning at least one trophy next term as well as putting themselves into the top-six frame in the county top-flight.

While there is an element of acceptance that Castle won’t be challenging for the title in the coming season, Beck is in the process of bringing in a trio of “Wessex calibre” players to enhance his side’s chances of bringing home some silverware.

After starting their pre-season programme this week, Beck was buoyed by the turnout and is hoping that over the next two weeks players will start putting pen-to-paper on deals at Chilcomb. 

“Hopefully we’ll have a few big name signings,” said Beck. “We had quite a lot of people turn up at pre-season.

“We’ve kept the core of the squad together and we want to make a few big signings in some key areas of the team.

“The plan is to push up the league and get into the top six. We know that Baffins, Hamble and Otterbourne are the ones that will be pushing for the top, but we want to be in amongst the chasing pack.

“Last season wasn’t as good as we hoped, but we want to improve and we want to get some silverware.

“I want silverware. I know we’re not going to win the league, but it will be nice to be in the top six.”

Castle are hoping that they can secure the services of a new centre-back, midfielder and striker.

That comes as they look to offset the departure of manager’s player of the season Tom Johnson, who is set to leave Hampshire to work in Cumbria.

Meanwhile centre-back Zak Pickett has signed for Romsey Town, although could return on a dual-signed agreement.

On top of that, Beck is more than aware that he must start to settle in a new striker to replace last term’s 31 goal top-scorer Stuart Findlay , who has announced that he intends to retire at the end of next term.