Rival boss predicts Spireites will be among National League's biggest spenders
Dave Challinor, boss at AFC Fylde, spoke to his club’s official website about how difficult the league will be next season.
Fylde, who themselves have shelled out considerable amounts of money in a rapid rise through the non-league ranks in recent years, finished seventh this season but lost to Boreham Wood in the play-offs.
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Hide AdChallinor expects a more difficult challenge from the 2018/19 campaign and says the two clubs relegated from the Football League will have the biggest budgets.
“The make up of the league next season will certainly be tougher than it was this year,” he said.
“The four that went down were probably expecting to struggle so there were no major shocks there.
“I also don’t think many would have expected Macclesfield to get out of the division.
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Hide Ad“Tranmere have obviously gone up too but we had shown we were more than capable of competing against them too.
“Those clubs have been replaced by big clubs in Barnet and Chesterfield, who will have the biggest budgets in the league.
“Coming up, Salford will have a huge budget too and Harrogate similarly.”
But with a season of National League football under their belts, Challinor says his side will be a tougher proposition for their rivals.
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Hide Ad“Regardless of the teams in the division next season, we will be stronger from our own experience and hopefully we can have another successful season,” he added.
If Chesterfield go through with plans to halve their 2017/18 budget they’ll spend around £1m on wages next season.