WIMBORNE Town boss Alex Browne is setting his sights on step four football and insists his team remain focused amid off-field developments.

Browne’s men are front-runners to take the Wessex League’s promotion spot due to a combination of their fine form and Poole Town’s ground issues.

His team’s efforts to secure a move up the non-league ladder come at a time when the club is working hard to clear its debts.

With chairman Ken Stewart admitting that £23,500 is owed to HM Revenue and Customs, the club is trying to get its house in order in a bid to prepare for a potential move up the non-league ladder.

But Browne stressed that off-field issues would not distract his players.

He told the Echo: “It is business as usual.

“The debts are common knowledge and that the club owe a bit of money. It’s not a massive amount and I don’t think it’s massively important to us – the players are just interested in what happens on the pitch.

“I’ve had a few phone calls about a few (off-field) things, but it’s not really my domain. People are working hard to remedy it but my main thing is the football.”

Magpies’ bid to lay the foundations for a move into the Southern League saw Paul Miller return to the ambitious club this week. Miller, who resigned as director in the wake of the Alex Pike saga in January, has taken up a position as a non-executive director at Cuthbury.

Miller said: “It is very important we pull together behind chairman Ken Stewart and manager Alex Browne as we prepare to take Wimborne Town into the Southern League.

“I also hope people support the chairman’s proposed new share issue and help put the club on a sound financial footing to help us take our place in the Southern League, should the opportunity arise.”

When contacted by the Echo yesterday, Stewart politely declined to comment on the progress of the new share issue following a meeting on Monday.

Browne added: “We are doing fantastically well on the pitch and we hope to keep going like that.

“Poole are in a fantastic position and, realistically, they should cruise it. I know their issues about the ground and we’ll just have to wait and see.

“The players here are good players and I think a lot of them could play at a higher level.”

In-form Wimborne continue their push for honours with a trip to Alresford Town tomorrow.

Kev James and Steve Whitcher are suspended, so Browne has named himself in the Magpies squad.

Wimborne Town: (from) Hutchings, Wilson, Gilbert, Lockyer, Thomson, Mullins, Green, McCormick, Wyatt, Stokoe, Chudy, Clarke, Barnes, Haysom, Browne, Walker-Harris.