We are two days from a huge season for the Brighton Bears and I want to get one thing clear straight away. I expect us to win silverware this year.

Bold words maybe but did you really expect me to say anything different? It's early days but I think we have legitimate claims to be among the leading contenders in the BBL this season.

I have spent the whole summer working hard, recruiting, planning, putting the players through their paces and providing them with a good pre-season programme.

We have a good team here. Okay, pre-season has not been ideal with Rico Alderson joining us so late but it has been pretty good.

I can promise you this. We will be a strong team, we will be exciting to watch and there will be flashes of brilliance. It is going to be a lot of fun.

This season I will not only be head coach but also owner of the club. The first question I was asked when I bought the remaining shares from Romek Kriwald was whether this club makes money or runs at a loss.

Well, I don't expect to starve while I am here but I can't wait to see how much we can make this thing grow.

People are talking about us, Chester Jets, Sheffield Sharks and London Towers as the top four teams in the country. I won't argue with that. We know what Chester are all about, we have seen what Sheffield have got and we know Towers will go deep.

I don't think many people were including us in that group two months ago but they are now because they have seen the quality of the team we have got here.

What a start we gave 2,000 of you last Sunday with our pre-season spectacular at the Brighton Centre aginst Worthing Thunder and the Towers. It went really well and I would love to make something like than an annual event.

Don't read too much into the fact both Sussex sides beat Towers, although I was very happy with the way we defended against them.

True, they were missing Terrell Myers, and he is one of the top players in the league, but if we had been more in touch offensively we would have pummelled them. We missed some easy shots.

What about Thunder the other night? I thought they were really good. They played with everything they had, really went for it and things went their way. A few shots dropped for them and their confidence soared.

They gave us a great game to round off the evening. The intensity level of that game was outstanding and I thought it was a super advert for basketball in the south.

Apart from a brief break in the States, I have spent my summer in Brighton. I have met fans, talked with local businesses and played ball with the kids down at the beach. I believe we are on to something with basketball in this part of the country.

On Monday morning, our phones didn't stop ringing with people wanting tickets for the next match. I look forward to seeing them for our opener with Thames Valley on Saturday.

Thames Valley hammered us on the first weekend last season. We owe them for that. More than anything, we owe it to ourselves to be successful.

Go Bears