AMBITIOUS Bacup Borough are determined to make a serious push for promotion from the North West Counties League Premier Division next season – but those plans have also seen head of player development Andy Hill quit West View.

The former Manchester City man has left Borough after four years working alongside manager Brent Peters, who wants to push the club forward now that a new lease for the ground has been secured.

He said: “We have, out of necessity, been a development club for the past four seasons and this has been the right approach during this time.

“However, we have now moved beyond that.

“We have secured a new lease and with Dave Edler our head of business development on board we have started to make serious inroads into the local business community in terms of sponsorship and support.

“We now feel that we can look to keep our better young players and bring in some experienced heads around them.

“However, with the introduction of a new development squad next season to run alongside the first team there will still be plenty of scope to bring young talent through, but without having to take the risk of blooding them in important league matches.”

With the post of head of development no longer a first team position, Hill has stepped down and Peters added: “We would like to put on record our sincere thanks for the work Andy has done during his four years at the club and to wish him every success in the future. He will always be welcome at West View.

Edler added: “Next season the emphasis will be first and foremost to gain promotion and while there will be an opportunity for young players to come in and contribute to that, there is no doubt that to get out of this league you need a combination of youth and experience.

“For our business plan to work and to put into effect the plans we have with the recently formed Rossendale Community Football Trust that we have launched, we badly need to get out of this league.”

Of his departure, Hill said: “Anyone that knows Brent and myself well enough will tell you that we are both winners, and very passionate about the game.

“They will also be surprised that our working relationship lasted this long. There have been plenty of heated discussions over the past four seasons between us, but they have never been taken personally, only professionally. This allied by an undoubted mutual respect for each other are the reasons why it did so.

“Unfortunately I feel my time has come to move on. I would like to thank Brent for giving me the opportunity of working with him. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at the club, it has given me an insight and experience of working at the NWCFL Level, and the hard work and dedication it takes just to get a team out to compete at this level let alone win something.”