Ian Allinson believes St Albans City have to make better use of what they have off the pitch if they are to continue making strides forward on it.
The City boss has begun a new role behind the scenes, utilising his years in business to help inject new life into the finances of the club.
It will run alongside his position as manager and it is one he is excited to get his teeth into.
He said: "It's difficult when you're trying to run a football club at this level and you have no income coming in from the bar.
"The only income we rely on is from supporters, from sponsors and the two owners and without that this football club would struggle to play at the level we are.
"The club will always be here whether that's the National South or the County League but we want to maintain our status and get into the National League, that's the big thing.
"Lawrence [Levy] and John [McGowan] have always said to me 'let's not be frightened about getting in there. We'll find a way of making it work'.
"We want to go up but we want to do it the right way without breaking the bank like some of the teams in our league have done.
"You've seen some of the finances thrown at clubs but they haven't all had the success.
"One or two have. Torquay were a massive side last year but they get big gates and that's the one thing for us. Our gates have been fantastic and without them, the two owners will probably have been putting more in.
"We have to look at ways of trying to bring more money to the club in terms of sponsorship packages and what we can offer."
He has already been busy in his first few days of the role looking at existing and lapsed sponsors.
"There are boards out there for people who haven't renewed in a couple of years so they've got to come down," he said.
"We're updating the whole commercial activity which will bring more benefits for sponsors and more revenue for us.
"There are so many things we can do where we give something back and that might increase the sponsorship.
"We've been very happy to take, take, take but we need to get people back onside.
"As a club we've come so far professionally and taken it a long way from where we were three or four years ago. We've got to continue to do that.
"We've got a great brand here but now we've got to go and sell that to the people of St Albans."
Co-owner Lawrence Levy said the former Arsenal man can really shine in his new position
He said: "The relationship we have with Ian is very different to what we've had before.
"He has bought in to the future and philosophy of what we're trying to build and it's also what he wants.
"And as well as being the manager, long term I think he would like to look at the wider picture of the club and not just the first-team."
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