Co-owner Winfield reveals Crawley have cleared debts

Winfield says it has cost Crawley £600,000 to clear their debts

Crawley Town have announced they have cleared their debts and are now aiming for promotion to the Football League.

The Blue Square Bet Premier side were £1 million in the red when Bruce Winfield became co-owner and were losing £400,000 a year.

Winfield told BBC Sussex: "We've gone through a process of reconstruction. It gives us a great platform to go forward and compete in this league.

"We've had to pump money in as well as work on saving any money we could."

He added: "We've raised the share capital to half a million pounds, which is significant at this level."

Winfield paid tribute to Tom Scott and his family, who have been major investors in the club.

"If you look at the money they put in, it was a big step. The club was pretty much bankrupt and would have gone into administration," he said.

"We wouldn't be here today if they hadn't put their money in."

Winfield has given manager Steve Evans a task of achieving promotion to the Football League, and has broken the club transfer record with the purchase of striker Matt Tubbs from Salisbury City.

He said: "We've still got a long way to go - we're competing with some big clubs and it's not going to happen overnight.

"We think we've got the resources and the players to get where we want to be."