Playing cuts revealed at Rangers

Stafford Rangers are planning to slash manager Matt Elliott's playing budget by 40 per cent in the next week.

Elliott was told after Tuesday's Blue Square North defeat at home to Boston United that his wage bill would have to be cut, in the wake of plummeting attendances.

Just 260 supporters turned out for the game at Marston Road, the lowest gate since the club were playing in the Cheshire League in 1965/66.

The next lowest was 14 seasons ago, when the club had just completed back-to-back relegations to the third tier of non-league football, drawing 267 fans for home games against Redditch and Racing Club Warwick in 1996/97.

Fans stayed away against Boston after last Saturday's 5-0 horror defeat to relegation rivals Hyde and, after a 4-0 loss on Tuesday night, could so again for Saturday's visit of Blyth Spartans.

The club are hoping that won't be the case but, with just five home league games to come where they keep all of the gate, are unlikely to be able to stave off the cuts without a dramatic rise in attendances.

Chairman Mike Hughes said: "The playing budget has got to come down by 35 to 40 per cent and that's probably not even enough, there's a lot of people saying we should be going a lot deeper.

"If the gates stay the same as they were on Tuesday night, then it's not enough and we are on a spiral where we have got to adapt to what our income is.

"We have got to be sensible about it but, at the same time, we have got to be realistic."

Rangers operate a pay-if-you-play policy on the pitch but the planned cut is still going to hit their stars hard in the pocket, with Elliott hoping key men will not abandon the club's Blue Square North relegation fight in response.

And chairman Hughes has spelled out just how hard the club have been hit by the low gate against Boston.

He said: "The problem we have got is that performances on the pitch are obviously affecting attendances. The gate of 260 on Tuesday night brought in a gross of £1,370.

"By the time we have taken the 20 per cent VAT out of that and paid match costs, officials and so on, we haven't got much left."