Nick Amos has declared himself fully fit and ready to be the guiding light in the Stafford back-line for the season ahead.

The 31-year-old is currently the only experienced centre-half on the books at Marston Road, with manager Chris Brindley confirming last week the search for his partner is still on-going.

Former skipper Wayne Daniel had already signed for Worcester this summer before Amos’ close friend and travelling partner Stuart Pierpoint – who came to the club with him from Halesowen last summer – also left for Nuneaton.

But the Walsall-based stopper refused to join them, instead pledging to stay for 2009/10 after an injury-ravaged season.

Amos will be much-needed in what will likely be a young Rangers side and – as a PE teacher by day – he will be looked upon as a leader.

He said: “It wasn’t really a choice for me in the end. As far as I was concerned if Stafford wanted to keep me, I was going to stay. I only feel it right that I do that, I had so many months off injured last year that I owe them.

“Hopefully my experience can act as a guiding light to some of the younger boys this year.”

Amos missed large chunks of his debut season through a a knee injury, but returned for the final crunch series of games with the team battling relegation from the Blue Square North.

He helped the team to safety, as Rangers beat the drop with a game to spare.

The experienced defender has plenty of regrets but one sticks more than most, he wouldn’t have missed so much game time if the nature of his injury had been cleared up sooner.

He recalls: “I went to see a variety of consultants and they never really diagnosed the problem properly. I could have had the operation a few months earlier, which would have meant I saw a lot more than last season.

“The problem I had was a split cartilage behind the patella, which didn’t show up on a number of scans. When the real problem was found, I went under the knife.

“I played the last seven games after and felt some twinges, but they always said that was going to happen.

“But during pre-season the knee has been absolutely fine, I haven’t felt it at all.”