Peter Marsden could quite easily be enjoying the easy life, putting his feet up in a directors’ box in the north west without a care in the world.

Weeks before a surprise appointment as the new chairman of Wealdstone in July, a decade-long run at the helm at Accrington Stanley drew to a close – culminating in the cruellest of campaigns which, had it ended 10 minutes earlier, would have promoted them the third tier for the first time since 1960.

That rollercoaster was the last season he would spend in charge as he instead turned his thoughts to the offer of a figurehead chairman position to remain, in a largely ceremonial role.

But sitting back is not the way Peter does things.

“The thing about football is knowing when to get in and when to leave,” he told the Harrow Times during a stroll around the Stones’ Grosvenor Vale home.

"Everyone has a sell-by date. I left it in the hands of someone who could take it to another level.

“Being a Londoner, I wanted to come back and take on a new challenge nearer home.”

That challenge turned out to be Wealdstone – which Peter admits he affectionately terms the “Accrington of the south”.

It won’t be a motto the Stones adapt anytime soon, the blueprint for success is one they would be keen to borrow, and it’s there the parallels begin for the new ambitious chairman.

“This could be the Accrington of the south,” Peter said. “This is what it was like when they were starting their journey; they spent many years in the equivalent of the Conference North, three in the Conference National, and then on to the Football League.

“I’m comfortable this is a level I know something about. I know I have the skillset to take the club into the Conference and maybe have a flirt with League Two.

“I like clubs with history, and changing it. At Accrington I felt like I was righting a wrong.

“It’s my job to rewrite Wealdstone’s and get them to where they should’ve been in the 1980s.”

Sandwiched between two large industrial towns in Lancashire, Blackburn and Bolton, Stanley’s catchment area was unlikely to see the Wham Stadium needing expansion any time soon.

Wealdstone, on the other hand, is the “most untapped club in the country” in Peter’s mind, with hundreds of thousands of potential fans sandwiched between Grosvenor Vale and their Football League neighbours.

“I didn’t look at any other clubs,” he revealed. “I’ve never been a die-hard fan but I used to come down when I was younger.

“If someone turned up and thought about where in London they should put a football club, round here would be perfect. I think it’s the most untapped club in the country.

“There’s about 250,000 people who live round here, and if that can’t support a club like this I don’t know where can.

“If we could be playing in front of crowds of about 2,500 in the National League, that would be great. We have to do work to the ground, but that’s all in hand.

“We’d have to put another 500 seats in if we got in the play-offs, and there’s other things too.

“I can see how that’s going to pan out, but I need people to buy into it, and talk to local businesses, maybe have better facilities; it doesn’t have to be something out of the Championship.”

Some chairmen would wince at the mention of the dreaded p-word – whether it’s promotion, or play-offs – but Peter’s tangible drive and will for success has served him well in the past, and he’s in no mood to change.

“The target is to be in the play-offs,” he told us plainly. “Getting promoted is another matter. I’d be a bit cheesed off if we weren’t on or around the periphery.

“We’ve now got one of the better budgets in the division, and certainly one of the best fan bases.

“We’ve got the support and catchment that should be somewhere between the Conference and League Two, like a Barnet or a Dagenham. I just have to get them there.”

Talk alone may be cheap but wheels are in motion at Grosvenor Vale, with investment in the squad and stadium already under way; and if the club can maintain the level of ambition Peter clearly has for it, a north-v-south Accrington derby might not be too far away.