Francis Vines will start the new season with the smallest playing budget in the Conference unless Crawley can find a way to raise £200,000 in extra investment.

The Reds boss has been told there will be hardly any money available to strengthen his squad following promotion from the Dr Martens premier division.

Owner John Duly has already poured more than £500,000 of his own cash into the club over the past five years and is unable to finance a summer spending spree on players unless some other form of revenue can be found.

Vines said: "We desperately need somebody to come forward and invest in the club because the Duly's can't afford to finance the extra costs of playing in the Conference on their own.

"We need another £200,000 to meet all the costs involved with playing at a higher level and that is even before we start thinking about the playing side.

"I have been told I will have a bit more money to spend on players than last season but as things stand we will have to operate with the smallest budget in the Conference.

"To be able to compete without looking over our shoulders all the time I think we need to spend a bit more. The board agree but the money is just not there so I'll just have to get on with it.

"Hopefully an individual or a business will come along and put some money in to the club over the summer because we have worked so hard to get where we are we don't want to risk losing it."

Crawley will already be at a big disadvantage against most clubs in the Conference due to their decision to remain part-time. Last year nine of the ten part-time clubs finished in the bottom 13 with only Aldershot making an impression at the top end of the table.