AFC Fylde manager Dave Challinor admits letting players go is the ‘nasty’ part of close season, but insists he must be ruthless in order to move the club forward.

Challinor still has several contracted players on the books after a successful season that saw the Coasters promoted to the National League as champions.

However, close on half of his title-winning stars are out of contract this summer and whilst the manager still has decisions to make, he admitted that releasing players isn’t his favourite job.

Challinor said: “I suppose this is the nasty part of the year. It’s hard after a successful season where the lads have done really well and I can’t thank them enough. But we have to move on and ultimately that means that some players have to move on too.

“We have to look at our expectations for next season and how we move our structure forward to achieve those goals.

“It’s been tough, we have spoken to most of the players and we have had conversations to some new targets too. Hopefully over the next couple of weeks we can get a few deals done so that we can all get some down time to relax for a week or so.

“That will give us a chance to look back on what we have achieved here but ultimately it starts all over again straight away and we can’t wait.

“There will be quite a big turnaround in terms of playing staff. We have nine players contracted at this stage.

“There are areas where we have been very good and areas where we know we can improve. Although we have been successful it would be remiss of us not to look at where we can get better.

“We have to be ruthless but people accept that’s the business we are in. We have to find players that fit the bill for the next level and our recruitment will reflect that.

Since the final game of the season, Challinor has had held ‘positive’ meeting with the club regarding budgets and believes it will put the Coasters in a position to compete in the top tier of Non-League football.

“We will have an increased budget for the playing staff and it is a budget that I believe will make us competitive,” added Challinor.

“We have had some very positive meetings and set out of expectations.

“There will be costs that you don’t factor in until now like the extra cost for travel, which is massive. We also need to spend on the infrastructure and getting people in. All these things add into what is already a big increase in expense for the club, but we are ready for it.”