PRESTON Grasshoppers are in confident mood as they prepare for the new season in the National League Two.

This will be their third season in the division and after finishing eighth and seventh in the previous years they are hopeful of reaching a promotion spot this time.

In a game beset by financial instability the Grasshoppers pride themselves on having a financially sound set up based on a solid business footing.

The club's ground at Lightfoot Green has excellent facilities and, to gain promotion, would need only floodlights to meet the requirements.

And the club has no problems meeting the playing structure criteia as it already fields a ladies team and several youth sides.

Club press officer John Hetherington said: "We have the best youth set up in the country with players from age seven upwards and plan to have more teams in the future.

"A lot of clubs have suffered financially recently with the introduction of professionalism but the Grasshoppers club is self-financing so are allright.

"Obviously we cannot compete in financial terms with the big clubs like Bath and Leicester. Steve Borthwick, one of our best young players was snapped up by Bath a year ago which was a bit frustrating. But we cannot realistically afford to pay full-time players on big contracts which can be up to £70,000 a year which makes our youth policy so important.

"We are lucky enough to draw crowds of up to 3,000 for big games and we are hoping for good crowds this season as there are plenty of derbies with Fylde, Orrell, Waterloo and Kendal in our division.

The Hoppers first league match of the season is against Esher at home on September 1 preceded by a friendly against New Brighton on Sunday.

The club fields seven senior sides who train on Tuesday and Thursday nights and the youth teams on Sundays. For more information ring the club on 863546.