Chester FC chairman Grenville Millington says the club should have no fears about wanting to challenge at the top end of the Vanarama Conference.

Steve Burr steered the Blues to a 12th-place finish this season, a massive improvement on a hugely disappointing 2013-14 campaign.

As a fan-owned club, Chester struggle to match the wages on offer elsewhere and have a budget placing them in the lower middle of the division.

Although he accepts that makes the challenge greater, the club legend insists the Blues can hold their own and push on again next season.

"I'm sure people will give me 40 reasons why Chester can't be number one but I want five reasons why we can be," said Millington, who made more than 300 appearances for the club.

"I don't want us to start the season thinking we'll be happy to finish 14th or somewhere because I don't think Chester should accept that.

"I'm realistic and I know money is an important thing but it's not the only thing. We need to get behind Steve Burr, stand together and build the feeling of the club.

"When I was playing I wanted to have a number one on my back and I could never understand people who wanted different numbers. I always wanted to be number one and it's the same now.

"There's no reason why we can't improve and get ourselves into the play-offs. We weren't that far away this season and we all want the same thing and that's to be successful.

"We had a poor start last year because we did not know which league we would be in and a lot of players had been snapped up already

"This time we've got eight or nine players signed up so we've got a great base for next season. We have the nucleus of an exciting team and it's looking very good."

Millington joined the City Fans United (CFU) board in September and replaced Tony Durkin as chairman the following month.

He believes the Blues are in good shape off the pitch as well as on it, but as a volunteer-run club the 63-year-old said it was important fans continued to help as much as possible.

A programme of close season improvements at the Swansway Chester Stadium begins next month and supporters with time to spare over the summer are urged to contact the club.

"The growth of the field is matching the growth on the pitch too," Millington said.

"We had Liverpool under-21s down for a game and we did our best to look after them and we must have made a good impressions as they've come back time and time again so it shows we're doing things right.

"We're continuing to work on our DNA too - all successful clubs like Barcelona and Southampton have done that - so that we can say to people this is Chester, this is who we are and what we do, come and join us.

"The real work starts as soon as the games have finished and there's a lot to be done.

"We've already made a start on a few things like filling in the potholes in the car park but there's painting outside and inside the ground, repainting the safety markings, weeding the area around the pitch: it's never-ending to be honest.

"I hear a lot of great ideas about what we could do but who's going to do it? I wince sometimes when I have go to the volunteers and ask them to do something else because they do so much already.

"We do need more volunteers with all kinds of skills and I would ask anyone who can spare some time, no matter how small, to call me or Tracey Wainwright and come and help us."