Crawley manager Francis Vines believes the Conference will eventually become the fifth professional division.

Non-league's top flight have agreed to fall in line with the rest of the Football League and introduce a transfer window.

Clubs will not be able to sign players after August 31, apart from in a one-month period during January.

Vines reckons the decision signals the Conference's desire to increase their involvement with the Football League.

They successfully campaigned for a two-up, two-down system to be introduced two years ago and there is talk of three-up in the near future.

Vines said: "I think the reason behind the transfer window is that they want to run along the same lines of the League so they can eventually have three-up and three-down.

"They couldn't ask for that if they had turned round and said they were not going to have a transfer window.

"The way things are going the Conference will become like the fifth division and when it eventually does, hopefully we will still be part of it."

Vines admits the transfer restrictions will make his job much harder. Reds used 39 players last season, including 20 signed during the season, as they surpassed expectations to finish mid-table in their Conference debut.

Vines said: "The window will make it more difficult because if you have an injury you can't just go out and get someone else in.

"It will probably means we will need a bigger squad with a bit more depth, which we didn't have at times last season.

"It will be a problem and it means we will have to make sure we have the right players from the start."

The Conference has increased the number of loan players clubs can use next season to soften the blow of the transfer restrictions.

Teams can register four short-term and four long-term players and play five loan players in a game.

They can also sign a keeper for a minimum of seven days outside the transfer window if they do not have a registered keeper available.

Vines said: "The way around it will be with loans. That is how we will be able to get players in if we need them and they will probably be cheaper as well.

"The problem will be finding quality players on loan because most clubs will want to keep their players because of the transfer window."

Crawley have already started preparations for the new season by holding a trial week, which ends with a behind-closed-doors game tomorrow.

Potential new signings will join the current squad when they begin pre-season training on Monday.

Vines added: "The response has been good, we had 66 players at the first day. There were quite a few who weren't up to the standard but I will probably be taking about ten of them for pre-season. We have a lot of friendlies set up so we will be able to have a good look at them."

Reds are due to play 16 pre-season matches, starting at Horley Town on July 12.