Steve Evans is not expecting to see any of the funds Crawley have generated from selling three players inside a week.

After youth team products Danny Mills and Ramone McCrae joined Peterborough, Reds yesterday sold defender Jake Wright to Albion for a club record fee thought to be in excess of £100,000.

Reds have also banked big sums from their pre-season games against Chelsea, Charlton and Albion and that together with the transfer fees are believed to have netted them a sum in excess of £350,000.

Evans will have talks with the club’s directors this weekend to see if he can use some of it to strengthen his squad with the Blue Square premier kick-off at Mansfield Town a week away – but he is not optimistic.

He said: “I will have the chance to meet up with the directors over the weekend and they will let me know what the situation is with their usual honesty and integrity but my understanding at the moment is the answer will be no.

“We have had three high-profile friendlies and sold two of the youngsters to Peterborough and now Jake has gone for a club record fee. It is hard to understand when you lose players of Jake’s quality that you might not be able to bring replacements in but you get on with it.

Healthy “The good news is that Crawley have never been in such a healthy financial position. These deals have left the club on a very safe footing and we are a million miles on from the situation Paul Raynor and I walked into two years ago when we had five players and were heading for administration again.”

Crawley received an identical offer from Scottish Premier League club Hearts for Wright, who missed just seven league and cup games for Reds last season after joining them from Halifax Town.

Evans added: “At one point on Thursday it looked as if Jake might be heading to the SPL but I think Russell Slade has done a very good job persuading Jake that his future lies on the South Coast.

“Jake watched a lot of Brighton games when we weren’t playing last season and I know he was really impressed with their fans and the way they got behind their team.

“He has got a great left peg, can play in central defence or left-back and he’s a winner with a heart the size of a mountain. He is a model professional in the way he conducts himself. We wish him every success and I’m sure Russell and the Brighton fans will see what he is capable of.”

Evans does not expect to lose any more players before the big kick-off but did reveal that there had been interest in striker Charlie Ademeno who has impressed in pre-season after joining from Southend United on a free transfer in May.

Evans added: “Of the signings we made he could prove to be the best in a while and everything he’s done in pre-season strengthens our opinion.

“If we’d been desperate to sell as opposed to doing what was best for the players and the club Ademeno could have gone before Wright. But we are concentrating on the players we have and we will still have a competitive side to go to Mansfield next Saturday.”