'We want to be challenging': George Maris stresses Mansfield Town hunger and League One aim as he reflects on last six years
George Maris is one of the longest serving senior players currently at Mansfield Town and he has seen ‘everything’ change since his arrival six years ago.
Maris is back in regular action for Stags this season, having worked his way back from a tough run-in with injury setbacks. The midfielder has reflected on how Mansfield Town has grown as a club since he first joined in 2020 and he’s eager to help push them to their next major milestone.
Stags signed Maris six years ago from Cambridge United, when Graham Coughlan was still manager. Nigel Clough arrived just a few months later and marked the start of this successful chapter supporters have been enjoying.
Maris played a huge part in Mansfield’s promotion to League One in 2024 and hopes he can do his bit this season to push his side even further. The midfielder contributed 11 goals and six assists as Stags finished third in the 2023/24 League Two season.
Since then, Mansfield Town have continued to improve and Maris has reflected on just how much he has seen the club evolve during his time there.
“The training ground is making improvements, the squad has made numerous improvements since I’ve been here. When I first signed, we had a good squad but not compared to this one – it’s night and day. We’ve signed so many good players for this level,” Maris said in this week’s press conference.
“Every year since the gaffer has been here, I think we’ve progressed. Players are getting better, you look at some of the players down there who have scored loads and loads of goals. I think squad wise, we’re very good and we will show that in the coming weeks. We just need time to gel and hopefully the results will start to pick up as well.”
Mansfield Town finished tenth last season, 11 points better off than their first term back in England’s third tier. While the goal was to simply survive in League One, Stags are now looking at how far they can push up the table, and multiple players have discussed the dream of challenging for a top six spot.
Stags have had a mixed bag of results across their first six games but Maris is confident there is still plenty more to pull out the hat in what is already proving to be a competitive season.
“I think we have played good football,” he continued. “Obviously the Reading game was a tough one but the Luton game showed exactly what we’re all about. I do think the best is yet to come for us. We’re six games in now and the home form has been good, I definitely think we’ve got enough quality down there to do well again this season and beat last year’s total.
“We want to be challenging, that’s no secret. We got so close to the play-off region last season and we’ve made improvements this year, signed goal-scorers. So that’s where we’ve got to be looking and I don’t see why we can’t progress from what we did last season.”