AFC Telford United chief Rob Smith has already lined up meetings with potential new signings as he steps up his preparations for next season’s Blue Square Northern campaign.The Bucks are still revelling in their promotion from the UniBond League via Saturday’s 3-1 win over Witton Albion in the play-off final.

But Smith’s attentions are now fully focussed on the future, and preparations are well under way after a day of meetings with his assistant Larry Chambers and the club’s Board.

“We’ve decided what we want to do with the squad we’ve got now, and we told the Board last night,” he revealed.

“We now need to meet with each of the players in turn and we’ll announce the retained list for contracted players on Monday next week.

“We’ll be meeting with the players at the ground, and we’re also going to be meeting prospective new players as well, so it’s a busy time for us.”

Discussions took place last night to work towards setting a budget for wages for the coming season, though nothing will be finalised until after a formal Board meeting tomorrow evening.

Smith is happy with how talks went, but admits there will be a lot of work to do to compete with established clubs at their new level such as Kettering, Southport, Tamworth and Nuneaton.

“There will be an increase in the budget, and it’s just a case of how much,” the Bucks boss added. “We’re going to have two extra substitutes to pay for a start, so that will have an impact.

“We’re a big club at this level in terms of fanbase, but we’re a few years behind the other clubs in this division in terms of finances.”

Chairman Lee Carter added: “We had a very positive meeting and things will be ratified at the Board meeting tomorrow.

“We’ll be making a series of announcements over the next seven to 10 days on things like the retained list and ticket prices.”

By Chris Hudson