AFC TOTTON manager Jimmy Ball is thinking long-term with the Stags – after signing a new five-year deal with the Southern League Division One South outfit.

Appointed manager at Totton towards the tail end of last season, Ball took on a full-time role that also includes overseeing the club’s football operations.

READ MORE: Ball lays out ambitions after signing five-year deal

The former Forest Green boss is also in charge of the overall picture at the Snows Stadium based outfit, helping the club to set up a pathway from the under-sevens side all the way to the first team.

Whilst pre-season ambitions of promotion have certainly not been kept quiet by those involved with the Stags, the long-term deal for Ball is part of planning on a wider scale as Totton look to “building a better club” according to Chairman Stephen Snow.

Revealing why he chose to make such a lengthy commitment to Totton, Ball told the club’s website: “What drove the decision to sign a five-year contract is to create cohesion and continuity about how we’re trying to do things, to become part of the club’s dream and ambition, which is the thing that excited me about taking the job in the first place.

“We had a look at each other towards the end of last season, me at the club, the club at me, and we’ve decided that this is the right challenge and something that we can be both be successful at.

“So, I didn’t really hesitate. It shows a lot of belief in me, and my commitment to the football club as well. I’m delighted.”

Totton are looking to return to the seventh tier for the first time since relegation in 2014.

They previously spent three years in the Southern League’s top flight, narrowly missing out on promotion in their debut season.

Back in 2012 the Stags lost in the play-off final to Oxford City, who have since gone on to cement themselves in the National South.

Chairman Snow added: “Jimmy wants to have success, and like AFC Totton, the immediate success is to gain promotion to the Southern Premier League, but I think it is also the ambition of building a better club.

“That’s about developing better players of all age groups, developing them into not just being better players, but going beyond better.

“And we believe that Jimmy has got all that skillset that will undoubtedly help these players. So we’re looking forward to his time with us.