Paddy Davitt King's Lynn chairman Ken Bobbins insists the high profile arrival of Tamworth hitman Gareth Sheldon will not break the bank at The Walks. Linnets' chief Carl Heggs beat off competition from the Lambs and Conference Premier rivals Kidderminster to sign the 23-goal striker on a one-year contract.

Paddy Davitt

King's Lynn chairman Ken Bobbins insists the high profile arrival of Tamworth hitman Gareth Sheldon will not break the bank at The Walks.

Linnets' chief Carl Heggs beat off competition from the Lambs and Conference Premier rivals Kidderminster to sign the 23-goal striker on a one-year contract.

Heggs must plot Lynn's promotion bid on a drastically reduced player budget following the club's Conference demotion - despite the imminent return to the board of majority shareholder Michael Chinn.

Chinn's exit towards the end of last season triggered the departures of a trio of senior players while the remaining squad and management agreed major pay cuts.

“Michael has never really gone away in all honesty,” said Bobbins. “He resigned as a director but he was still involved in the club and we've continued to talk over these past few months. He now feels that he is in a position to come back on board again but I would stress I don't think it's going to be quite the gravy train it was perceived to be in the past.

“Nevertheless he is a good asset to the club and we're pleased to have him on board. This is an exciting time for King's Lynn FC and things are changing rapidly for the better I would say. Michael's announcement that he would like to return as a director is another part of that and we hope it will be sorted out this week.”

Bobbins' believes Sheldon's capture vindicates Heggs' policy to target Midlands-based personnel.

“He's more expensive than one or two of the others,” said Bobbins. “But this will still be within the budget we have set Carl who is manipulating that to get the best possible team he can. I know some of the fans clearly don't like the idea of training regularly in the Midlands but I would suggest if we didn't have those plans in place quite a few of these new players would not have even considered it - not at the financial level we have to operate within.”

Bobbins' also backs Heggs' complete overhaul of Keith Webb's Conference North squad.

“If the players have four hours to travel then they want paying for that and in this economic climate you have to look at the best option and cut your cloth,” he said.

“It makes perfect sense, however, what we have done as a club is we're in the process of contacting all of last season's squad to give them Carl's number. We suggest they contact him, but clearly the onus is on them if they are interested in playing for us to discuss the situation with him. We don't intend to force anyone out of the club if they want to be a part of what is happening here.”

Long-serving midfielder Mark Camm fired a parting shot after completing his weekend move to league rivals Boston United.

Camm rejected a move to the Pilgrims last season but is the second member of Webb's squad to confirm their exit after keeper Scott Howie linked up with Ridgeons League Wroxham.

“I was willing to come to Boston last season but there were a few issues at Lynn that I could not leave behind,” said Camm. “I wanted a change myself, as I think if you stick at a club too long, there's a danger that you can become a bit stale.

“I was not bothered about staying at King's Lynn but then the new manager got the job last week and apparently the lads were told to get his number and give him a call to see if they were in his plans. He should have been ringing the players. That did not really matter to me, but I feel for some of the other lads there.”