Forest Green Rovers plan to keep building following promotion

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The owner of Forest Green Rovers says reaching League One for the first time isn't the limit of the club's ambitions.

Rovers held on to win the League Two title last season and now have a new manager, new players and plans for a new stadium.

They open their debut League One campaign with a trip to West Country rivals Bristol Rovers tomorrow afternoon (Saturday 30 July).

Owner Dale Vince recently announced plans to sell his green energy company and enter politics, but says he will still be dedicated to Rovers' future.

The club intends to move into the world's first fully-wooden football stadium, and Vince wants to keep the momentum going following promotion.

He said:"Being in League One has been our ambition for a while, our ultimate ambition is the Championship. We've been on this journey for 10 years and you can tell the fans are all super excited. We're all excited as a club.

"We've done our recruitment, we've rebuilt our pitch, we've done all the things we need to do on and off the pitch. We've made some great improvements on the environment side as well. So we're just ready to start in a new league and have some fun."

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Rovers will be led by new Head Coach Ian Burchnall, who was recruited from Notts County following the shock departure of predecessor Rob Edwards to Watford.

Burchnall, 39, started coaching aged 22 and worked in Norway and Sweden where he not only expanded his football knowledge but an eco-friendly way of life, too.

He said: "Coming here I guess we'd had a large part of our life bringing the kids up in an environment that was very nature driven in Scandinavia. So I've probably been conscious of those things anyway and the more you learn, the more you add to it.

"It was good to know you're coming to a club that's got a lot of integrity, works in the right way, good people around, positive environment, so I think that also plays a big part when you're looking at going in somewhere. The football's got to be right and everything around it has got to be right and it felt that way here."