CHAIRMAN Anthony Hampson admitted Worcester City’s “out of control” playing budget had been the biggest reason behind losses of more than £290,000 last season.

Hampson revealed money paid to players in 2016-17 had increased by £65,000 from the £287,408 reported in the 2015-16 club accounts.

The City chief said a flexible budget ranging between £7,000 and £8,000 per week had been agreed in pre-season in the hope of creating revenue from cup runs with an agreement with then-manager Carl Heeley to cut costs should success fail to materialise.

“We wanted to put together a budget that we thought adequate to get us a bit of a cup run but with the new entrants such as Salford City, it totally skewed the levels,” said Hampson.

"There was £250,000 of (Football Stadia Improvement Fund) funding available for stadium projects for clubs in the National North. That was another reason we kept persevering, to retain our status.

“You sit with the manager and try to see what is attainable. The manager then goes out to get in players. You all sit together as a board with the manager.

“The manager had signed players on contracts which we could not get out of. Some of them were (contracted) from the previous season.”

The figures suggest more than £350,000 was spent across a 10-month campaign in which City slashed the budget in February, shortly after Heeley resigned as manager.

Asked whether Heeley had exceeded the budget set by City, Hampson replied: “Yes.

“There was an element of flexibility to it. If he got players in, he had to make savings in the rest of the squad. That’s how it should work.”

Asked whether that had happened, Hampson replied: “No, not really. He was slow to act to what he saw.”

Asked what he would say to critics of City’s monetary policy for the season in question, Hampson said: “They are probably right but it is difficult to stop. Once the budget is set for the season, it is extremely difficult to put on the brakes.

“We would have been relegation fodder and the gates would have plummeted. We would have had no chance of any cup runs whatsoever.

“You cannot just put an immediate stop to it. We shed costs as quickly as we could and had to buy out some of the players' contracts to save money.

“It had got out of control. The nature of signing players is such that you don’t get a lot of time for debate, the manager will sometimes go off and sign them.

“I think Carl should have cut the budget much sooner after the cup run did not materialise.

“The manager has to accept what the deal was at the beginning of the season. He knew what it was but held on to the players. From there, it is quite difficult to cut back."

Asked how much responsibility he felt Heeley should take for the club's losses, Hampson replied: “Everyone has to take responsibility. I don’t think it is a question of finger pointing at one person.

“Carl was a servant of the club for many years and I personally hoped that he was going to develop and manage the situation better.

“We all discussed it and took the decision together. Bearing in mind we had two good years, it was probably overambitious to think we could do it for a third in a row.”

Heeley politely declined to comment until he has “fully digested the comments”.

Hampson reported gate receipts had increased £5,000 from the previous season but that cup revenue was down £65,000 with £5,000 less taken from the club’s Gold Bond. He said a sum of £15,026 had been written off for the failed planning application for a stadium project at Perdiswell.