Transfer targets must have desire and ambition

“Players who are in football for the money won’t be at Inver Park. They won’t be attracted here by what we have to offer them. What we want are players with the hunger to do well in Championship 1, with the aim of playing sooner rather than later in the Premier League,” said the Larne manager.

“We have been actively pursuing players and talks are ongoing, but there’s nothing over the line as yet. What we can promise them is that they will be playing for a good club which is forward-thinking and the will to succeed and they are being invited to play a part in that.

“The tight budget is certainly a challenging aspect of the job but I came here in the full knowledge of those constraints. They were outlined when I came seeking the position.

“But, with the exception of a few well-heeled clubs, there really is no money of any sort in Irish League football these days, definitely not in the Championship anyway.

“So my target is to bring in people who want to play at the top level the season after next and we’re urging them to join us in the bid to bring Larne up there. So you won’t be seeing players who want to play for the money at Inver Park,” added the manager who has been successful in retaining most of his playing staff from the season just ended.

He spent most of last week getting names on new contracts and is delighted that the nucleus of his squad for next season is already in place.

Already committed for another campaign were Chris Keenan, Stuart Scott, Chris Rodgers, Jamie Mitchell and Paul Maguire.

Now he has also secured the services for season 2014-15 of nine more quality players - Robbie Lee Crawford, Darren McNamee, Player of the Year Stuart King, Niall McAllister, Craig Todd, Scott Irvine, Robbie White, Caolan Gillen and Ciaran Heggarty.

“I’m pleased to have signed all these current players until the summer of 2015 and now look forward to adding to the panel in the weeks to come,” added the boss.