Blue Square South club Bishop`s Stortford has released a statement regarding their financial situation during this current bad weather lay-off and how it is affecting the playing budget at Woodside Park.
The statement reads: "Under the current regime of chairman Luigi Del Basso, the club has never lived beyond its means.
“With a static average home attendance and disappointing runs in this season's FA Cup and Trophy the club's income for the season does not allow for an expansive playing budget.
“Manager Mark Simpson has been kept informed on an ongoing basis of the playing budget available to him and has acted in the best interests of the club in keeping within the available budget.
“The club considers it is in the long-term benefit that we keep a tight rein on expenditure and do not follow the 'spend and bust' philosophy of some other clubs at all levels of football.
“The club will never spend beyond its realistic means in order to maintain the future prosperity of the club.
“This sometimes means difficult decisions have to be made and the board wholly support the actions Mark Simpson and his team have had to make during the course of the season for the club's long-term future. (This is not a `dreaded` chairman's vote of confidence!).
“The current Board of Directors have consistently over the past seasons appealed for further investors/shareholders and although in the current economic climate everyone wholly understands money is tight, if there are any potential investors please contact the club and discussions can take place.
“The club is not, and never has been 'for sale', the current mischief-making and speculation on certain websites and internet forums about the future of our club is both misleading and regrettable.
"In line with our long held view that the club would never stand in the way of players being offered a chance to better themselves football-wise, we have released Aiden Palmer and Lewis Smith from their Football Conference registrations.
“Aiden's brief spell with us ends as he has been given an opportunity to link up again with his ex-Leyton Orient manager Martin Ling at Cambridge United.
“Lewis Smith who was recruited from Fulham via our relationship with Les Reed has joined Chelmsford City, who are offering him a package which enables him to train on a full-time basis while he continues his quest to get back into the Football League.
“We can also advise that Tom Champion has accepted an approach to join Braintree Town. Whilst attempts were made to keep Tom at the club, ultimately he decided he preferred the offer that Braintree were able to make.
“Mark Simpson has wasted no time in replacing the central defender with Alex Bentley joining from Dagenham & Redbridge, initially on a month`s loan."
