REDDITCH United manager Liam McDonald says he’s keeping his options open after guiding the club to sixth place in the Southern League Premier.

The Reds boss was set for talks with chairman Chris Swan yesterday over the plans for next season.

But McDonald admitted he is weighing up whether he and coaching staff Nick Green and David Bridgwater remain at the Valley Stadium for the 2015-16 season.

Despite one of the smaller budgets in the league, the coaching team have been supported by chairman Chris Swan and recorded a second top-ten finish in a row, missing out on a place in the play-off spots.

McDonald has built a side mainly on players from lower down the non-league pyramid but would like a budget increase in order to strengthen for next season. High on his shopping list are strikers with experience at Southern League Premier level, to help fill hole left by Jermaine Hylton, who joined Swindon Town, and Jamie Spencer after he joined Kidderminster Harriers.

Swan has always been mindful of United trying to pay their own way but still has to put £1,500 into the club each week to keep it running.

Attendances are up at Redditch, but they still fall short of the division’s most well-supported sides, such as Weymouth, Poole and Dorchester.

The chairman is keen for the club to install a 3G pitch at the Valley Stadium but is still in talks with Redditch Borough Council over a rent increase issue.

McDonald said: “At the moment I am keeping my options open for myself and my back room team.

“Redditch United is my first club as a manager and it will remain close to me but as I said to a fan, if you were offered a job where the money you had to spend was better you would probably take it.

“There are areas we need to improve and we need two quality players up front.

“The budget we have been working with is bottom-seven and we are not looking for Redditch to become one of the biggest spenders, just an increase which will help us build on what we’ve already done here.”

McDonald hailed his players after they narrowly missed out on the play-off spots.

Redditch won 3-1 in Arlesey thanks to a brace for Ashley Sammons and a Simeon Maye effort, but missed out on fifth-place by a point after St Neots scraped a draw against Frome.

But it’s been another excellent season for United, who have been transformed from perennial strugglers into top-half contenders in two seasons.

The manager said: “It has been an outstanding season and I am so proud of my players.

“Remember, we lost the best player in the league in Jermaine Hylton in January to Swindon and Jamie Spencer to Kidderminster Harriers, while Jamie Molyneux has missed most of the season with a serious injury.

“Jim Mutton has also been out for three months and if would have had all of those players available, then I believe we’d have made the play-offs, which would have been a fairy tale.

“Eight of the lads who played at Arlesey started the season lower down the non-league and we’ve been beating sides with three or four times our playing budget.

“The fans have also been great, they outnumbered the home support at Arlesey and created a great atmosphere. I am most proud of the wins over St Neots and Chesham because they were tipped to well but there has been so much to be happy with this season.”