NEIL YOUNG has spoken of his joy at leading Chester FC to promotion – and warned of the tough challenges which lie ahead.
The Blues manager’s delight at guiding his team into the top flight of non-league football is tempered by the realisation of how difficult it will be to continue the unprecedented success he has enjoyed so far.
Young, having led Chester to three successive titles and automatic promotions, has no intention of settling for a season of consolidation in the Blue Square Bet Premier.
He is confident his part-time team, who sealed the Blue Square Bet North title on Saturday, will be able to survive in a league mainly made up of fully professional outfits.
But he believes it will be difficult to attract the type of players who could help make Chester a genuine force.
“I can’t wait for the Conference,” said ambitious Young.
“To be able to go to grounds that we will go to with this club will be a great feeling.
“We’ve been planning for the Conference since November-December time but the finances have dictated that we may have to ease back a little bit on what we would’ve liked to have done. The pool of players we will be shopping for is very, very small.
“The full-time lads are not going to want to come part-time and the ones who may will want to come for full-time money.
“You may get one of two older pros who are looking for a career outside of football or who are wanting to get closer to home. Otherwise we’re going to have find some nuggets from lower down because I don’t think we’re going to find many part-time players we can afford who will be better than the players we’ve got.
“They’ve been phenomenal but we do need to improve.”
The club will post a five-figure loss when its latest set of accounts are released later this year, meaning Young will be handed a budget for next season that is similar to the one he currently has.
The Chester board will set Young the challenge of finishing as the highest part-time club in the Blue Square Bet Premier.
Young said: “We’ve currently got a great squad of players who could hold their own in the Conference without a shadow of a doubt.
“But if you look at this season’s Conference I don’t think there’s a part-time team in the top 10 and most of the teams at the bottom are part-time or a version of part-time.”
It is the third season in succession that the fan-owned Blues have won promotion.
The Blue Square Bet Premier was the last league Chester City played in before the club folded in 2010.
