Sedgley Park: The future's bright

"We have a strong management structure, we know what we're doing, we know how to market the club and we feel we are ready for the challenge the step up to National One offers us," he said.

"We are taking a sensible approach, we know we need to strengthen the team but we also want to remain a family-orientated club, that's very important to us, in addition to being successful.

"Our aim for next season playing-wise is survival. We want to find our feet, that will give us an idea of what is required the following year and the year after that and so on.

"Looking at the squad we've got it's fairly youthful, although we have to strengthen in keys positions. We've also got plans to develop the ground.

From humble beginnings in a farmer's field, the club is now recognised as having one of the best set-ups outside the Premiership. But that doesn't mean it is going to sit on it's laurels.

"We're looking at extending the main stand, developing a covered standing terrace along the opposite side and behind the scoreboard end, and enclosing the whole pitch with fencing and installing turnstiles," he said.

"We are also planning to improve the surface of the training pitches, in addition to the lighting, which will cost £30,000, which we have got an RFU grant for, because that area is also used by the community.

"We're also looking to develop an all-weather, multi-use training area.

"We are talking to Whitefield Golf Club about buying land off them adjacent to the club for that, which could be also be used by the community for other sports.

"We are not like a lot of clubs who are struggling financially and are forced to sell off pieces of land.

"We are not in debt and we are trying to buy land.

"Just being in National One we get £100,000 from the RFU and it opens up other grant opportunities, right now we are just going through the process of identifying them.

"For example, Swinton Lions playing at Park Lane opens up the possibility of ground improvement grants from rugby league."

But it's not just money from outside sources that the club plans to use.

Its also wants to expand it's own commercial activities, to build upon it's much admired self-sufficiency.

"We obviously need to attract more sponsorship, the more you get the stronger you become, both team-wise and commercially, and I'm currently developing commercial targets for next season.

"We've just sold another 11 perimeter advertising boards, there are still boards available and I reckon we can bring in another £15,000 through that.

"We want to offer sponsorship packages ranging from £5000 to £400. We want to be able to appeal to different sized companies.

"Ideally we would like a main name sponsor, but we'll just have to wait and see about that one."

While, other clubs target national, international and even multi-national companies, Roberts believes in local involvement.

"It's easy to ride on the back of the first team's success, but we are really a community concern, and we believe that's where our strength lies in marketing ourselves," he said.

"We intend to look at local companies who appreciate that and who they would like to be associated with us.

"We want our sponsors to be involved with us, we want to see them here, taking part and enjoying the relationship.

"The other side of the sponsorship coin is the Swinton Lions connection, which makes us a year-round concern for any would-be investors.

"If you add together the players from all our teams, ranging from minis to the first team, their families, supporters and the Swinton connection, there are up to 5000 people passing through here every week, most of them more than once

"That is a large number of people to appeal to, and already there are sponsors of ours who have started investing in Swinton and vice versa."

In many quarters Sedgley is seen as a shining example of how to run a successful club on a tight budget and without going into debt.

"We've never set out to be a role model, although we are beginning to appreciate that that is the way we are increasing being perceived," he said: "we just continue to do things the way we think they should be done."

Should the club continue to remain successful, both on the pitch and commercially and achieve the ultimate goal of a place in the Zurich Premiership, then and only then would a move be entertained.

"We have no intentions of going anywhere, like I said we want to expand here in Whitefield.

"But if we ever grew into a premiership club we couldn't re-develop here, we would have to relocate, but I don't see that happening."

One thing is for sure, Roberts certainly doesn't see Sedgley Park going down the Sale Sharks' road.

"We don't want some millionaire to come in and take over, we want to remain the type of club we are, a fun, family-orientated club that plays a full part in the community and is successful on the pitch."