TROUBLED Lymington and New Milton could be set for a fresh start next season as New Milton Town FC.

Linnets, who were forced to slash their playing budget recently, are in "serious discussions" over the change of name, partly in a bid to build an improved relationship with New Milton Town council and a decision will be made before the end of the month.

Acting chairman Ian Snook confirmed: "It would purely be a name change.

"New Milton Town Council would prefer to be putting money into a New Milton Town Football Club rather than Lymington and New Milton FC and that is understandable.

"They spend a lot of money doing a very god job for us - our playing surface is terrific - and the change of name would be a way of us giving something back to them.

"If it goes through the committee without any serious problems, we would then call an EGM where our members would vote."

Snook added: "There have been a few issues between the council and the football club and I think it would go some way to building a few bridges again."

After a run of 10 straight Southern League Division One South and West defeats, Ian Robinson's side have made it three wins on the bounce ahead of Saturday's trip to Oxford City (3pm).

And Snook was quick to praise his manager in the wake of the recent upheaval that saw half of his players up sticks and leave.

The chairman said: "Ian and his team have been absolutely tremendous and we now have people that actually want to play for us.

"It's been a bit traumatic, but now it feels like we've turned a corner."

Robinson, meanwhile, was quick to deflect the acclaim to his loyal troops who have stuck with the Linnets cause.

He said: "I think it's had a positive effect on the players who stuck with us. We lost some quality, but we've replaced that with energy and enthusiasm.

"It can't have been easy for the likes of James Stokoe, Kevin James, Adam Lang, Sam Carter and the others to swallow. But I've got nothing but praise for them in how they accepted things and got on with it.

"It has restored my faith in footballers. Some people play for the wrong reasons, but you cannot say that about those guys."