Come on Saints fans: Support us as well!

This is a massive week for the Ryman Premier League club with a double dose of pre-season entertainment for Saints supporters on the Sparshatts Stadium agenda.

On Thursday, a crowd of around 2,500 is expected to see Paul Sturrock bring a full-strength squad to Eastleigh on a night when St Mary's chairman Rupert Lowe will officially open the home club's new £240,000 grandstand.

Then, next Sunday, a host of ex-Saints favourites - headed by I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here star Neil Ruddock and also featuring the likes of Matt Le Tissier, Francis Benali, Kevin Bond, Kevin Moore, Dennis Rofe and Steve Wigley - face Eastleigh in a friendly.

Lifelong Saints fan Doswell can't wait for that twin attraction, but he is also setting his sights more long-term than just the next few days.

Eastleigh last season averaged 252 paying customers for home games, a figure swelled to just over 300 by sponsors' passes.

Doswell admits he was hoping for crowds of around 500 - and insists attendances of around 700 must be the norm if Eastleigh are to continue their progress up the pyramid following two promotions in successive years from the Wessex and the DML Southern Leagues.

"PR wise, we are on the ball as we have got good relationships with the local media, great support from local business - over 100 at the last count - and good links with Saints," Doswell said.

"We have spent a lot of money on upgrading our facilities.

"In addition to the grandstand, we've spent £60,000 on tarmacing, £20,000 on a new sprinkler system and handed Bill Loose-more our groundsman another £20,000 for ferti-liser and feed for the pitch.

"Our playing surface has to be the best around outside the league.

"And we 've had 10,000 leaflets printed and sent out to specific postcode areas in a bid to get more supporters watching our games.

"We have had two promotions in two seasons - two years ago we were mid- table in the Wessex League and playing to crowds of around 100.

"You have to come to a point where you sit back and think 'what more can we do?'

"If we were slap bang in the middle of a housing estate, I'm convinced we'd get massive crowds - around 700 plus.

"But, because of our location, I still think some people don't know where we are.

"People have driven past our place on the motorway and seen our training pitch and said to me: 'I don't think much of your ground'."

Eastleigh have hosted Saints in friendlies before, but never has a manager brought his full-strength squad to play them.

Last season, Wigley was in charge of a reserve side, including the likes of Jo Tessem and Leandre Griffit that lost 2-1 to Doswell's men.

"We have good links with Saints but I'm conscious we don't want to abuse them," said Doswell.

"Thursday might be a one-off with regard to them bringing the first team but we're hopeful of another friendly next year.

"We've never played their Under-18s - they've always brought a strong reserve side."

There are numerous links between Eastleigh and Saints - the former have ex-Dell men David Hughes (assistant manager), Mark Dennis (director of football) and Nicky Banger (commercial manager) on their payroll.

Hughes and Banger are still playing.

Doswell's first job when he was appointed Eastleigh boss over two years ago was to bring in Hughes.

"A lot of what we have achieved has been down to David," said Doswell. "I knew him from when he played for Saints - I knew he was out of the game and I always wanted to take him with me to Eastleigh.

"I wouldn't say he was a close friend before we came here but, whenever I had talked to him about football, he always talked sense.

"I got him at just the right time - he was out of the game and wondering what to do.

"But I never expected him to play for us.

"I just required him to help out with the coaching and bring some professionalism to what we wanted to do. He had problems with his back and his knee - he literally couldn't walk up the stairs and had had six or seven operations.

"He is still the best player in our league and he has done absolutely everything pre-season - he's done all the training and played 90 minutes in roasting heat last Sunday.

"Nicky Banger has been an absolute dream as well.

"When a non-league club signs an ex-pro, you want them to come with the right mental attitude, and Nicky has been great.

"He's been absolutely fantastic for this club.

"Mark Dennis is another gem - he's got a typical Londoner's wit as he makes us all laugh. He's so enthusiastic about his football - he probably goes to bed thinking about football and wakes up thinking about football, the same as me!"

Doswell, the man behind the Drew Smith Homes construction company, added: "Football is the same as any business. You have to have people around you that you can trust.

"I'm not being funny - I've done well in business because I have put my trust in the right people.

"And it's the same in football.

"I'm not particularly interested in coaching, so I've got people who can do that for me - my strength is in man-management.

"And if you've got a team of Hughes, Banger and Dennis, then you can't really go wrong.

"We've also got Lee Pragnell as our physio - he's the physio for the GB Olympic team.

"Then there's Steve Beck, who we send to watch every single club in our league.

"There's not many non-league clubs at our level who do that.

"We try to be as professional as we can."

Despite all that professionalism, Eastleigh will be up against two sides next season in the Ryman Premier - Bil-lericay and Braintree - who are full-time.

"That's not what we're about - that's not part of our long-term plan," Doswell remarked.

"There's a world of difference between full-time and part-time.

"I would like us to get into Conference South or the Conference and see how we settle down.

"I'm not planning to go anywhere - the only job I'd leave Eastleigh for is Saints!"

Speaking as a Saints fan, Doswell said he would "like to see a bit more creativity in the centre of midfield and I still think we lack someone on the left.

"I would have liked to have seen us sign a few more players.

"But I like what Paul Sturrock says. He says he wants to get more crosses in - I think we'll see more open football than we did under Gordon Strachan.

"Strachan was a lot more disciplined. The players knew exactly what they were supposed to do.

"A lot of games under Strachan were 1-0 but, as a Saints fan, I was brought up on the likes of Channon and Keegan and lots of goals.

"Under Strachan, we had a lot of shape but were almost too regimented. Sturrock will play more open football - I saw the 3-3 draw with Newcastle at the end of last season and it was the best game of football I've ever seen.

"I would just like us to be a bit more creative - I still can't see where the goals are going to come from in midfield.

"But I hope Paul has a good start, as that is so important."