WINCHESTER City hope Chris Flood will ‘do a Jamie White’ and knuckle down for a full season in the Sydenhams Premier Division.

Just like ex-Saint White, Flood is a player who doesn’t really belong in the Wessex ranks but, for one reason or another, things have not worked out for him at the higher level.

After emerging through the Winchester youth ranks, Flood followed former boss Steve Moss to Farnborough from where he flirted with a professional career with Brentford and QPR.

When that didn’t materialise, he rose to prominence again with Salisbury City, earning himself a £10,000 switch to Crawley Town, who subsequently loaned him to Dorchester.

A permanent Magpies move followed only for the pattern to repeat itself when he was loaned to and eventually signed by Eastleigh.

They in turn loaned him to Maidenhead at the back end of last season and, having been released by the Spitfires in May, he is now back where he started.

But Flood will be heartened by the story of White who, after years of injury heartache, fired Winchester to the Sydenhams Premier title two seasons ago and went on to bang in 21 league goals for Salisbury last term as they booked their return ticket to the Conference National.

“I’ve known Chris Flood since he was a 15-year-old in the youth team at Winchester and he always stood out from the rest,” said City’s director of football Dave Malone.

“But his career has gone round and round in circles.

“He’s an enigmatic player and he needs to buckle down now and stay put somewhere for a while.

“His brief at Winchester is to enjoy himself, play good football and, hopefully, score loads of goals.

“If he does that, I would never stand in his way if a higher club came in for him, but that’s a long way down the line yet.

“I wouldn’t expect any quality player to spend too long in the Wessex League, but I don’t think it’s doing Floody much good bouncing round incessantly from club to club.

“He’s got a full-time job now as a recruitment consultant, so hopefully he’ll settle down here and enjoy it.”

Having endured a year of struggle in the Southern League, Winchester are ready to open a new Wessex chapter at home to Moneyfields tomorrow.

Miles Rutherford’s Portsmouth side are no mugs, having finished fourth in the Premier Division for the last two seasons, and new City boss Graham Kemp has had first-hand experience of just how dangerous they can be early doors.

The former Christchurch manager, who has led his new charges to six wins out of six in pre-season, recalled: “Moneyfields always start well. A couple of seasons ago Christchurch had a stumble against them in the league and then we drew them in the FA Cup and they beat us in that.

“What with playing Moneyfields in the opening game and drawing Alresford in the FA Cup (away, August 17), the fixtures could have been kinder.”

Centre-half/midfielder Leigh Mills, now back at Winchester from champions Blackfield & Langley, is at a wedding tomorrow. Danny Reeve can’t play either due to a suspension hanging over from last term.