Harvey denies Stevenage rumours

Harvey has now enjoyed two years in charge at The New Lawn (Getty)

Forest Green manager Jim Harvey says he is staying in Gloucestershire despite the rumours linking him with the vacant manager's job at Stevenage Borough.

Harvey led Rovers to eighth place this season - their highest ever finish.

"We've started something off here and it's promising. I just hope that we can keep everybody together and improve on it," he told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"The first year we were 14th and we've improved. We've got a wee bit of ground to make up, hopefully we can do it."

Striker Stuart Fleetwood scored his 36th goal of the season in Saturday's 2-2 draw at Histon, and is one of a small number of players who are definitely leaving the New Lawn in the summer.

"There will be a couple leaving, but this happens every year," admitted Harvey. "But hopefully we'll be able to keep the majority and maybe add two or three to that.

"I think the boys have learned an awful lot this year, and their attitude and application have been first-class - I would expect them to come back better players next season."

Summing up the events of the season, Harvey thinks that the Whites have a bright future if they can manage to tempt a few more fans through the gates at the New Lawn.

"I do think the people at the club work extremely hard, the chairman and the board have done a super job to get our club to the level we're at, with the stadium and the pitch and everything else and keeping this group of players.

"The people who support us are absolutely first-class, it's a super place for me to come into work and I really enjoy it - we just need some more to come in to make it a little bit easier, to give us a chance to compete against the bigger teams in the league."