Institute boss Sean Connor criticises 'no class' big clubs

Connor has also hit out at certain clubs, after losing goalkeeper Rory Brown to Glentoran and midfielder Evan Tweed to Coleraine, but he's quick to concede that losing players is just the way things are in the professional game.

"I think the players that I have lost, I'm disappointed to have lost them and I think our situation not knowing whether we are in the Premiership or the Championship has certainly had an impact upon that," he stated.

"We had spoken to all the players and asked them to just bear with us and wait to see what division we were in, but at the same time other clubs have reacted and taken advantage of the situation, but the fact is we are in professional football and that's going to happen, yes we can be disappointed but then we look at what happened with Glentoran with (Navid) Nasseri going to Linfield, that's the game you are in.

"It's just unfortunate that some clubs are big clubs and behave and act with a bit of decorum and class and other clubs are big clubs and try to do things on the cheap and have no class."

The ex-Dundalk boss remains confident that he'll be able to keep most of the players he wants, but he does want everyone at the club to re-evaluate things and make sure they are in a stronger position, no matter if they are a Premiership or Championship club in the 2020/21 campaign.

"I'm very confident that we'll keep everybody we want to keep and we'll be speaking to players that we have targeted and those discussions are going along quite nicely as well, but look everything is obviously dependent on whether we are a Premiership or Championship club," he added.

"Look, as I said at the time, whatever happens my attitude is that we come back bigger and stronger. If we are in the Premiership then we make sure that we are never anywhere near the relegation battle again and that's easier said than done, but I'm determined to do that and I think the plan that I have set out with the coaching staff for the next year and beyond and even with the board I think that will help us achieve that.

"If we have to do that from a starting base in the Championship so be it, obviously that might have implications in terms of who we can sign and who we don't sign, but look it's professional football and it's the battle of the fittest.

"I think as a football club we need to take a step back, see where our ambitions lie and then readjust what we do and I think we need to project ourselves as well, so that we aren't in the situation of having our best players hand picked at end of each season, that's easier said than done, but I think that's the place where we have to get ourselves too.

"This club has proven that they'll continue to develop young players and good players, but we need to try and develop those players within a frame work where we get some sort of compensation for them and that means having our players on longer contracts and seeing if we can increase our budget ever so slightly to help us keep our better players."