CHAIRMAN David Keyte says Hereford United will be trying to win their ‘bottom half of the table battle’ next season.

“If we can become one of the top sides in the bottom 12 and end up in mid-table that would be progress,” said Keyte.

“We will be trying to win our bottom half battle and, if we can do this and things go our way, we might be pushing to the fringes of the play-offs.

“We’ve deliberately tried to sign players a bit earlier this summer so we know we have the nucleus of a side which was doing alright.

“The players finished 16th - as far as I am concerned - which is typical Hereford United. There could be a platform to make it 10th or 12th next time.”

Keyte said there were 23 other clubs in the division also trying to improve every season.

“Crawley are spending a lot of money and I am not sure they should be favourites to win the league because League 2 is better than the Conference,” he said.

“Oxford United are putting more money in this season and Plymouth are a big club and Shrewsbury, with such a good budget, should do well.”

Keyte is also delighted with the progress of the club’s new youth set-up under John Layton.

“The youth project is one that I wanted to see get off the ground,” said Keyte.

“I spoke to Graham Turner and he said it would cost £80,000 a year to run a centre of excellence and he felt there was not enough talent in the Herefordshire to warrant that.

“I think it’s wider than the finances and the potential knock-ons of having a local player in the side.

“John Layton had three trial nights recently where we had nearly 200 lads wanting to play for Hereford United.

“In the past local lads have gone off to the likes of Cheltenham and Cardiff.

“There’s not a huge sporting talent in Herefordshire but if there are three or four in each age group, we’d be delighted with that.”