Crawley boss Steve Evans insists his side will be even more competitive in the Blue Square premier next season even though his players will all have taken a pay cut.

Ten members of last season’s squad will be back at the Broadfield when pre-season training starts next month while seven have left.

Evans will step up his hunt for their replacements after meeting co-owner Bruce Winfield earlier this week to finalise his budget.

Reds finished seventh last season, their highest ever league position, but Evans will have to try to improve on that with one of the smallest budgets in the league at just over £300,000, slightly lower than last season.

According to Evans, up to 11 of their rivals will have £1m-plus budgets and Crawley’s is miniscule compared to relegated Grimsby Town where two directors last week committed £500,000 each to team strengthening to take their overall playing budget soaring beyond £2m.

Evans said: “Every one of our players who has re-signed has done so with a pay cut. It is a sign of the times and I thought I would lose players like Ben Smith, Barry Cogan and Adam Quinn as a result but they are still here and I would like to think that is a reflection on what we can do here.”

Meanwhile Notts County say they will look for an experienced replacement for Steve Cotterill should he join Championship side Coventry City.

Evans was linked with the Meadow Lane job earlier this year before Cotterill came in and guided them to promotion to League One.

Reds have arranged a pre-season friendly against an Arsenal XI for Tuesday, July 20 (7.45pm) to go with other dates against Millwall (July 10, 3pm) and QPR (July 28, 7.45pm).

For the full story see The Argus today.