Boss warns AFC Telford will have it tougher
Manager Steve Kittrick today warned it will be tougher for AFC Telford Unitd to win promotion from Conference North than it was to stay in the Premier.
The Bucks will be looking for a swift return to non-league's top flight next season, in what will be Kittrick's first full campaign in charge.
But the Telford boss is warning it will be no easy task, due to the strength in depth of a division which will include several non-league big hitters.
He said: "I think it would have been easier to stay in the Conference than go up from Conference North. There are going to be some big clubs.
"FC United of Manchester are there with massive momentum and are a big club. You are going to have Chorley, Fylde and Solihull Moors who are spending a lot of money.
"It is not going to be easy, just because you are a big club does not mean you are going to go straight back. Of course, we would love to go straight back.
"I have always said I want to manage in the Conference so that's where I am hoping Telford will be."
Telford were crowned champions of the Conference North under Liam Watson two seasons ago, but their stop in the Premier division was brief.
Kittrick knows the Conference North well, having spent three seasons in the division with Guiseley, losing in the play-offs on each occasion.
The job at the Bucks became his first in the Conference Premier, when he took over following Watson's sacking in December with the club bottom of the table.
In the end, they finished 22nd, six points adrift of safety. Kittrick believes, had he been appointed a few weeks earlier, things might have been different.
He added: "I went in there at Christmas and we were so far away from getting anything.
"We have finished third bottom and I think had I gone in there five or six weeks earlier and got a chance to get them organised, I think we would still be in the Conference."
