BARRING an absolute disaster, we will be a League 2 club again next season.

Our first term back in the league has been one of learning - the standard has been better than we anticipated, individual players and teams collectively have often given us problems that we didn't anticipate and we have had to deal with that.

There have been some highs, in the league probably the most spectacular and satisfying was the 4-1 victory at Lincoln City.

Just occasionally, everything clicks into place and at Sincil Bank it did just that. We scored four but played so well it could have been seven or eight.

And in the Cups, there were a couple of outstanding performances against Coventry in the Carling Cup and against Port Vale in the FA Cup.

Plans are already being put into place for next season.

We start our pre-season training and planning a lot earlier this year because basically we know where we are going to be playing.

We would like to think that as a league club we can attract one or two of the bigger clubs down to Edgar Street for pre-season games.

I have agreed that we will go over to Pegasus and we will look for two or three more away from home but we will certainly expect four matches at Edgar Street which will be as high profile as we can get.

Then it turns to plans for players - sorting out the current staff that will be with us next season, the ones we expect to depart and the ones we want to bring in.

In the early weeks of the closed season, all players out of contract are expecting to be signed up by Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal but by the end of June there is a realistic approach to things and that is when most of the business is done.

Without a financial benefactor, we will continue to run within our means but the budget has to be stretched as far as it can to attract and keep the right sort of players.

It is a big league that we play in now. At Walsall, their banqueting and Conference facilities had a £2.5m turnover, that is more than double ours for everything.

There are some big clubs in there and, if we are realistic, we are probably in the bottom six of potential of turnover and fan base.

But that does not stop us striving for the success that supporters want.

Survival has been the most important thing this season but for next it has got to be having a go at the top end of the table.