Irving Weaver confirms that funds will be available for Harrogate Town to strengthen their squad during January transfer window

The Sulphurites made a bright start to their first-ever EFL campaign, but now find themselves 17th in the League Two standings following a run of just one victory in nine matches.

Manager Simon Weaver has spoken of the need to bring in some "quality padding" once the transfer window re-opens after Christmas, with chairman Irving revealing that the club’s board budgeted in the summer for player recruitment at the turn of the year.

“We need to do a little bit of stiffening in January and I know that Simon is well on with identifying his targets,” Irving Weaver said.

“We wanted to give the group who’ve done so well over the last few years and got us into the Football League the chance to play in League Two and see how far they could take us.

“Simon is now just looking to bring in that little bit of help for the players we already have here.

“The funds are certainly there. We are well under the salary cap because we started off from such a low base in relative terms and we budgeted for strengthening in January. That was always the plan.”

Like the majority of football clubs across the country, Town have been hit hard by the impact of Covid-19 and particularly the drop in income from gate receipts . But, Irving Weaver feels that the club’s overall financial position could certainly be worse.

“Things are okay financially given the circumstances,” he added.

“I’m just glad that we are in the Football League because of all the benefits that brings. We received our £250k payment from the Premier League this week, which was very welcome.

"We've also had the TV money from the West Brom and Skelmersdale cup games this season. That is revenue that you can't guarantee or rely on. You don't know that you're going to get it, so it's a bonus and is of course a big help.

"It hasn't been easy because of the pandemic, but things could be worse.”

Town travel to Morecambe on Saturday, 3pm kick-off.