GRANT Gordon says he feels “like a boy living out his football dream” after taking a controlling interest of Billericay Town Football Club.

He completed a deal with chairman Steve Kent late last week to buy 60 per cent of the shares in the new Conference South outfit.

Gordon, who has a long affiliation with Billericay and managed them for a spell four years ago, said it was a labour of love to return to New Lodge.

“I love the club,” he said. “It was a privilege to manage here and now I’m glad to be back and involved again.

“Steve Kent and his wife Sharon have done a fantastic job to get the club to where it is today.

“And when I heard Steve needed investment to take the club forward, I was in a fortunate enough position to be able to help.

“I’ve not invested to earn money here, though. I got involved because I genuinely love the place and for me this is like a little boy living out his football dream.”

Kent, who put the club up for sale in the summer, will remain on the club’s board along with his wife Sharon. He revealed in his blog on the Billericay website that there had been other offers, but that they were not right for the club.

Gordon says his title at New Lodge has not been confirmed yet. He has sat in the dug-out for Billericay’s opening three games of the season, and revealed he had initially returned because Craig Edwards had asked him to join the management team.

Gordon called Edwards a “great manager who’s worked wonders with a limited budget.”

But he admitted he will want to strengthen his squad following their promotion to the Conference South, and a campaign which has started with a win and two defeats.

“Craig will want to tinker with his squad a bit and there are a couple of positions we need to improve on,” said Gordon.

“We have a small squad and a limited budget so my first priority will be to get sponsorship and investment so we can increase the playing budget.

“We’re not going to compete with the likes of Eastleigh at the moment, but if we can get a bit of financial help we can help Craig with the areas where we are a little bit short.”

Gordon said he felt the club now needs at least two seasons of consolidation in the Conference South before they could start to think about challenging for a place in the top flight of the non-league game.

“It’s taken us a long time to get into the Conference and we should have been here a while ago,” he said.

“We need to establish ourselves in this division first, and that’s the initial goal.

“But obviously with the support we’ve got then we can think about setting our sights a little bit higher.

“If we can stay in this division this season and the following season then we can really think about pushing on.”

Gordon feels the Billericay team have learnt the hard way this week that mistakes rarely go unpunished in the Conference South.

He said he felt they were in the ascendancy when a soft late winner for Eastbourne condemned them to a second defeat in a matter of days on Saturday.

But he said he was hopeful they can bounce back with a win in today’s mouth-watering derby at home to Hornchurch.

Gordon said: “It’s only four games in, so in that sense it’s not a big game in terms of importance in the division.

“But I know how much our supporters will want to win, and I’d love us to get a result for them.

“There was a huge turn-out for this game last season, but then there was a lot more riding on it.

“But it would be great to get another bumper gate because I’m sure it’s going to be another great game."