JOHN Barton's 12-month chase for winger Adam Wilde finally ended in success last night when the Cambridge City star completed a £7,500 transfer to Worcester City.

Wilde will be unleashed on Ilkeston Town when the basement club make the trip to St George's Lane on Saturday.

But in a development linked to Wilde's arrival, admission prices are to go up by £1 and concessions by 50p from November 16 as chairman Dr Mike Sorensen and his board seek to finance manager Barton's title charge.

Barton first made enquiries about Wilde prior to last season's transfer deadline and again in the summer, but was forced to bide his time before landing the player who spent three seasons at Milton Road scoring 26 goals in 135 appearances.

"It's been a long haul but Adam is worth waiting for.

"He's an exciting player, predominantly left-side who loves to get forward, run at defenders, take them on and get quality crosses in the box," said Barton.

Sorensen added that City's decision to bring in Wilde, and possibly further additions, signalled the club's intention to make a serious tilt at promotion into the Nationwide Conference.

"The board of directors are personally prepared to pay transfer fees for players who we think will improve the chances of the club winning the league and being promoted," he said.

"The directors have paid out £4,000 for David Holmes and another £7,500 for Adam Wilde but unfortunately the financial constraints of the club means that the wages for these players have to be found by other means.

"After careful consideration of all the options the board feels the only way this can be achieved is by asking the supporters to pay an extra pound a game and 50p concessions.

"I hope the supporters will see this as a partnership and a way of trying to move forward.

"Nobody likes paying more money, but if they can see the directors are personally investing thousands of pounds in transfer fees then I hope they will view this positively," said the City chairman.

"Our current position gives us the best opportunity to make a serious promotion challenge but we recognised that to do this we need to add more depth to the squad.

"We are top of the table despite having spent the last five weeks with only 11 fit first team players -- even some of those were 'walking wounded'."