LEIGH RMI's manager stepped into a new job at Hilton Park charged with boosting the ailing club's empty coffers.

Mark Patterson took over as the club's first full-time commercial manager, undaunted by his twin role and admits that if he succeeds, it will provide the financial spin-off the struggling Nationwide Conference side desperately need to survive.

He is upbeat about the club's prospects saying: "By the end of this season people will know about us and more people will be coming to watch us. The first step is getting into town and winning them over."

The RMI manager has seen his budget for players for the new season slashed and the only way he can increase it is if he can make a success of his new job.

He has set himself a twin target of increasing the fan base to around the 800 mark and setting up a thriving commercial section.

"My players are only part-time so I have got the time to do it and it is something that certainly needs doing," he admitted.

"We needed to get something sorted out because in the three years that RMI have been in the Conference the club has not gone anywhere. I played here three years ago and the infrastructure has not improved.

"It is amazing no one has got a grip on it and promoted the club, but that is what I am here to do as commercial manager. It is up to me to get out into town meet the people and basically make them realise they have a team in the Conference which is effectively one step away from the Football League.

"I have to make people realise what an achievement that is and what it will be if we can get into the Third Division. We can only do that by a bigger support base and bigger fan base. That would give us more money coming through the gates. Also I want to improve the sponsorship deals and utilise the sponsors lounge more.

"By doing that it all adds up and I can get a better and more attractive football team which will attract more supporters. Again it is up to the people of Leigh to come and show their support and prove they want a football team. It is difficult but there has been no one going out into the town and making people want to come.

"The whole surroundings of the football club is not what it could be - it looks a little run down - but that is why we are moving to the new stadium. Over the next two years we can build a lot of firm foundations with the people of Leigh. If we can get that support we could then be in a position, when we move to the new stadium, to challenge for promotion.

Patterson was a hard-working midfielder in his playing days and is determined to put the same enthusiasm into his new role.

"The only experience I have had is what I have seen at other clubs," he admitted.

"I am getting a lot of help from the rugby people. I have sat down with them and they have given me advice but at the end of the day it is about me going out there, talking to people, inviting them down and showing them what we have got.

"My aim is to get 800 supporters watching us. We were only half way to that last season. The books would be balanced and everything else that I did on the commercial side I could spend on players.

"Once we have got the support it is up the team and the hospitality side of things to keep them coming. It is a very tough market and to a certain extent we compete with the rugby club, but our seasons overlap for only a small amount and it is up to us to tell them that there is something happening at Sporting Club Leigh for 12 months of the year."