Carter wants Evans to stay

CRAWLEY Town co-owner Susan Carter says she wants Steve Evans to stay on as the club's manager - but cannot promise him more money to spend on players next season.

The Reds boss has gone on record as saying he will only remain at the Broadfield for the final year of his contract if he is given a budget big enough to seriously challenge for promotion.

But Carter, who highly rates the 47-year-old, says she will not risk Town's financial future to keep her manager happy.

She said: "We'll sit down at the end of the season and have a look at what we can do but we have to live within our means.

"Of course we want to keep him. There are not many managers out there who would have been able to cope with what we have gone through this year - let alone have the team in the top half of the table.

"A lot of it will depend on if there is a tv deal in place and on how our season ticket sales are going."

Evans stock has risen significantly this season as he has guided Crawley to the verge of the play-offs despite having one of the smallest squads in the division.

Last week Notts County offered him the chance to return to the Football League with the League Two promotion hopefuls.

Former Burnley boss Steve Cotterill eventually got the job on a short term basis but the Crawley News understands the Magpies may return in the summer to get their man.

However, Carter is philosophical about the approach - insisting the only thing she can do to alter the situation is to increase the club's revenue streams.

"We're trying to get more out of Redz bar, we've had some music nights and need to promote the venue better.

"The reality is though, we will always be unable to compete with the likes of Luton. I spoke to their directors before the game and they are getting an average home gate of about 7,000.

"Their budget is more in a month than ours is for the whole season.

"We don't want to be a selling club but we have to be a selling club.

"It's important to keep this in perspective though as I'd rather us have to sell the odd player than being in the situation of other clubs.

The club will be announcing it's season ticket prices next week, with Carter insisting that the majority of tickets would not go up in price.

"We're still finalising the details at the moment but I think we want to be a bit more creative. We're looking to launch a family ticket that will give better value for moment and hopefully increase our gates."