Cruel summer for King’s Lynn Town boss Gary Setchell in the non-league transfer market

Gary Setchell insists it's been harder than ever to be the boss of King's Lynn Town this summer.

While the Linnets chief might be able to joke that he's 'had more blow-outs than (Formula One legend) Niki Lauda', his inability to add depth to his Linnets squad has been no laughing matter. Yet the man who became sole manager of the reformed club in October 2011, is adamant he will not give up trying to bolster his options at The Walks ahead of the Evo-Stik Premier Division's big kick-off on August 16.

Setchell said: 'I've still got money left for one player, believe it or not. The budget's no better or worse than last season.

'I have to be very careful what I'm doing. I'm battling against teams with a lot bigger budget than us. I keep trying, I keep thinking I've got people, and I keep getting blown out at the last minute.

'Some people I don't think I've got and then all of a sudden you get a phone call and they're coming here. It's been the toughest summer because I want to improve. But obviously, if your budget doesn't improve it's hard to do that.'

The Town chief has brought in Jackson Ramm, David Bridges and Michael Frew as well as re-signing Ross Watson and Steve Spriggs – but initially only on loan for three months. Yet, despite a string of departures compounding his woes, Setchell refuses to be downbeat at how things are shaping up.

'We are running a small squad, because we've gone top heavy,' said Lynn's boss.

'Keeping David Bell, Jake Jones, Dan Quigley and Jordan Yong is big for us. The main battle was keeping our best players at the football club, which has cost. We're going to go with 14, 15 or possibly 16 - with Chris Ward and Shaun Stocker on top of that. So the squad's going to have plenty of quality.

'It won't have the depth we'd like but if someone gets an injury long-term I'll bring someone in. You can only start with 11 on a day and if we keep our best players fit we won't have a problem.'