Hampton & Richmond Borough chief Alan Dowson has played down talk the club has a £3,500-a-week playing budget to throw at Ryman Premier League promotion next term.

The Beavers have loosened the purse strings a little this season as the manager has brought in Josh Casey, Eddie Hutchinson, SebBrown and Joe Hicks to boost a squad that battled relegation last term.

But the manager, who is yet to tie down defender George Wells to a new deal, denies he is throwing wads of cash at the issue.

“I was sat in the pub the other day and someone said they had heard I had £3,500-a-week to spend,” he said.

“If I had that sort of money I could win the league above, let along win promotion out of this league.

“We are spending a couple of hundred quid more but we had to if we want to be at the right end of the table next year.

“But if my chairman thought I was promising that sort of money to players then I’d be getting the sack pretty soon.”

Dowson is in the market to add Hemel Hempstead Town defender Moussa Diarra to his squad on a permanent basis next term, but is waiting on the player returning from France to discuss his situation.

Hampton have signed 30-year-old Dulwich Hamlet defender Michael Kamara.