Bears will be reporting early for duty next season as they bid to lose their tag of perennial wooden spoonists.

Owner Romek Kriwald was this week continuing negotiations with a potential new investor for the southern conference strugglers.

He is ready to fund a more thorough summer preparation if Bears' results are to match the improvements being shown off the court.

Co-skipper Michael Brown, one of two players confirmed for next season, led the call for a re-vamp in the wake of last Saturday's 31-point humiliation by London Leopards.

Brown said: "You can't get an ideal team in one season unless you do really great recruiting. We have quality players but as a unit we didn't gel.

"These other teams that are winning have the same guys year in and year out. Once we get the team we want, the faster we start praticising, the better we will be.

"We wait until September and practise for three weeks before the first game whereas the other teams have a whole month and do pre-season camps. I know it comes down to money but you might have to dip into your pocket a bit to get the quality team.

"You have to treat your players as your assets."

Kriwald said: "That will happen this year.

"Mike is absolutely right. We were not used to playing as a unit when we needed to at the start of the season."

Brown will spend summer coaching youngsters and working on his injured thigh, which still causes him problems after a match or heavy training session.

He added: "It's been an up down season. There has been a lot of adversity, from myself getting injured to Wil having to go home.

"Everything that can happen in a season happened. What I'm looking back on is when we made the run and won five out of six games. That showed what we could do but it just took us longer to gel. It was a learning experience."