Sittingbourne chairman Andy Spice has revealed the club’s off-field problems have eased to such an extent that next season will be something of a "fresh start" for the Brickies.

Mr Spice cut the playing budget when former manager Gary Abbott was in charge in January 2011 to prevent the club from going under.

The move saw several of the club’s leading lights tempted away by teams at higher levels, but Mr Spice has revealed plans to reintroduce a playing budget for next season.

He said: "We are hoping that by the end of this season we will be debt-free. It will be a great achievement for the club and means next season can be a fresh start for us.

"We should be looking at increasing the budget next season and trying to progress.

"Ideally we’d like to get ourselves sorted out before the end of this season and get a few wins, get the foundations in place for next season, so we can hit the ground running.

"We’re not going to give the manager a budget before the end of this season, unless something comes up that would benefit us next season, but that we could maybe sort out earlier."

Bourne visit Hythe on Saturday, while last weekend’s postponed home game with Corinthian Casuals has been rescheduled for Tuesday, February 28.