Big budgets no guarantee
THE likes of Fylde, York, Boston and Chorley will all head into the 2021/22 season among the favourites for promotion based on their financial superiority over most rivals in National League North.
But it’s points – not pounds – that win prizes!
Southport boss Liam Watson said it didn’t always follow that the clubs with the biggest budgets always finished top, as King’s Lynn proved last summer.
“I’ve seen plenty of teams with money not dominate - it’s all well and good saying these clubs will do what they do, but they will only be judged at the end of the season,” said Watson.
“You look at
Harrogate ten years or so ago - it took them five or six years to get out of the Conference.
“Budgets help you - but they don’t guarantee. If that was the case, everyone with the biggest budget would get promoted.”
As he starts to shape his squad for next season, one thing Watson is conscious of avoiding is a drawn-out pre-season.
“Everyone is furloughed and certain players already have contracts for next season and when contract dates come to an end we’ll start to look at that,” he said. “It’s going to be a massive pre-season and we’ve got to be careful what we do. We stepped up pre-season last year to start on a date which then got extended and we probably ended up playing 13 games! Now, the fact the league finished early, it’s not too bad - but we couldn’t do that again.
“So pre-season plans are moving along, all the dates for return to training are pencilled in so it’s just a case of sorting games, four at home, three away.
We’ve already got the three away games sorted so we’re just looking for the four, nice established home games which should bring a little bit of revenue stream into the club.”
And on the playing budget for the new season, director Ian Kyle said the Sandgrounders were in a better position than some of their rivals.
“We’ve been sensible - the key word last season was sensible,” he said.
“We didn’t overstretch ourselves because there was so much uncertainty. There is still a lot of uncertainty now. It’s for us now to gauge how we move forward over the next couple of months. Let’s get talking to our sponsors again.
“The budget isn’t going to be any less than it has been - we need to see how we can maximise moving forward and then start planning for next season. There are teams in a lot worse position than us, put it that