Dartford manager Alan Dowson fears there will be a major reality check coming soon in non-league football.

The Darts boss has warned the amount of money being paid out by clubs is not sustainable.

He was speaking with genuine fears over whether Southend will get through the coming season in the National League and on the back of neighbours Ebbsfleet’s £1.7million annual loss being revealed.

“There will be a reality check, it has to come,” stated Dowson. “These clubs can’t keep getting into debt, it has to go pop at some point.

“Look at Southend, they’re the biggest club in the National League and they could go pop soon. They won’t be the last, I’m not daft about how the non-league world is working. Our club has to hold its nerve.

“Look at Ebbsfleet losing millions of pounds, a big club like Southend on the brink of going bust. There will be a lot more where Southend are, and a lot more losses around what Ebbsfleet have got in the National League.

“That’s the way of the world but somewhere along the line someone has to say we can’t do this anymore and I think it will happen.”

Dowson believes the way Wrexham, Notts County and Stockport have gained promotion back to the Football League in recent years has further cemented the desire of clubs to splash the cash.

But with limited promotion spots available, not everyone can get to the promised land each season.

Dartford, who started again in the Kent League in 1993, take a different approach.

“Ebbsfleet lost £1.7million and that can’t be sustainable, it’s half-scandalous for a club to be honest,” added Dowson.

“If a club gets promotion, that’s great but if you do it with a big loss, then there’s something wrong.

“At the end of last season, we didn’t have any debt from that year. I know that’s how they run the club here when I took the job, and that’s the challenge of it.

“We can still make ourselves bigger but we have to do it in different ways. The chairman and directors are running a sustainable club here.

“But the problem in non-league is clubs like Wrexham, Notts County and Stockport have pushed the boundaries where people are trying to match it. In the next couple of years, it’s going to go pop. We’ve got to make sure we’re strong when that happens.

“All these money men are coming in but they’ll find out the same thing as everyone can’t win it.

“It will go pop because people expect good FA Cup runs and if they don’t go up this year, how are they going to go up next year? We’ve got to make sure we’re strong at all times.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be here, it could be one year, two years or two months but while I’m here I’ll work my socks off to prove that we’re the best around here, we’ll do things the right way and we’ll also compete in the football world and be in the top seven.

“A lot of people think that because we’ve lost five players this year that we won’t be around that top seven but I think we will.”

Dowson has missed out on players during the close season due to other clubs spending out bigger wages.

The Darts boss added: “There are average players getting good money. There’s a lot of full-time clubs in our league now. You need to do things the right way. There will be clubs in our league that don’t get promotion and don’t go up and they’ll be in the s*** again.

“It has cost Ebbsfleet millions and millions to go up but they might get relegated next year and you think where’s this money going to come from? It’s okay if you’ve got a massive backer but what if that backer gets bored?

“They’re £18m in debt and you’re thinking if he doesn’t pay that debt where’s this money going to come from? Where Dartford was when it went bust, I think we’ve learnt our lesson.

“There must be people looking at the money going around and thinking one day it has to stop. Everyone has seen Ebbsfleet’s figures and Southend are arguably the biggest club in non-league.

“How can clubs in our league sustain it? I don’t think they can, they’re being swept along with it and somewhere along the line they are going to come unstuck.”