Bracknell Town have signed two top-quality strikers in Nathan Minhas and Lee Barney, writes Dave Wright.

Former Ascot United hot-shot Minhas joins from Billericay Town and Barney from Hayes & Yeading.

Minhas netted 30 goals for Ascot in 32 appearances before joining the National League South club last season, while Barney bagged 24 goals for the Bostik League South Central Division champions.

They are two excellent signings following the departures of Liam Ferdinand, Joe Grant and Adam Cornell, who between them bagged more than 70 goals in all competitions last season.

Robins have also been boosted by defender Dave Hancock's decision to stay at Larges Lane, having previously stated he would be leaving.

Full-back Josh Hennah, who scored in the 6-1 win at FC Romania last December, has also re-signed for the new season.

New boss Sam Lock is steadily rebuilding his squad following the club's decision not to retain many of the side which narrowly missed out on promotion, losing to Cheshunt in the play-off final.

More signings will need to be made, but chairman Kayne Steinborn-Busse insists his club will not be paying "silly money" to sign players, saying: "The aim is to bring along young players from within the club.

"We are building for the next three, five to 10 years. And with the new management and coaching team we have now assembled, that is very possible."

However, he is well aware when a manager talks to a potential signing, one of the first questions asked is: "How much do you pay?"

And Steinborn-Busse has revealed he is prepared to increase the playing budget for next season.

"Yes, I have put a lot of my family's money into this football club," he said.

"It is no secret we have invested a good chunk of cash and we will continue to do that.

"However, I won't be on the planet forever, so it is important the club becomes commercially viable – and that is the next part of the journey.

"In the next few years, we need to become commercially strong to generate significant revenue from activities outside gate receipts.

Football clubs cannot run on gate receipts alone.

"This is a very expensive facility to run, so we need to be thinking outside the box."

The chairman continued: "Bracknell are not a bog-standard non-league football club, we are a full-time club, which is quite unique at our level.

"We have a full-time staff and will shortly have a full-time international Academy with 20 American students coming in and there may be some from Japan as well.

"We are going to have students from overseas, paying for that experience, living on campus.

"We are going to grow our camps – that is our growth area and is significantly going to grow next season.

"That growth will enable us to do more for young local players, while the revenue we generate will enable us to go out and get the best coaches.

"It will also enable us to have more people working full time. It will no longer be just my family working full time.

"There are not many clubs from Step 2 downwards who will have full-time staff like us. In fact, probably none.

"It is now about building a legacy and building something that the people of Bracknell can be proud of in years to come."

Geoff Warner, who lost the Robins job to Lock, has joined Hellenic League Premier Division club Burnham, where he will assist manager Paul Shone.

Warner has worked for club owners Nas Bashir and Glenn Skivington at the Bisham-based FAB Academy, while he and Bashir were previously coaches at the Reading FC Academy.