DARLINGTON chairman George Houghton has vowed to make every effort in ensuring David Hodgson can compete in the transfer market during the summer.

While Houghton has yet to make his intentions for the club clear, Hodgson last night revealed he will be given the best possible financial backing.

Hodgson has been forced to work on a tight budget since the club came out of administration in 2004, yet he has guided the club to two consecutive eighth-placed finishes in League Two.

With an improved wage structure, Hodgson will hope that in luring top targets to the club during the summer, he will have a better chance of finally breaking his promotion duck.

"The chairman has said he will do all he can to give us the opportunity to compete," said Hodgson. "We are way, way behind most clubs on the financial front - we're the fourth or fifth worst paid club in the league.

"I have players in mind and I will be sitting down with the chairman to discuss them."

When Hodgson does learn the budget, the Quakers boss will set about the task of landing three forwards.

"We've got to find three new strikers for the club, that's dead simple," said Hodgson. "That's something we've known from day one.

"We've had to call on Andy Cooke to come into our club and score goals when he's not the greatest goalscorer.

"We brought Jemal Johnson to come in and score goals, but then he missed the last couple of games through injury. It was unfortunate that Kyle Lafferty had to go back to Burnley because he looked capable of scoring goals."

"We've asked all of these players to come into the club and make an immediate impact. It doesn't happen like that and if it does you're very lucky."

Andy Cooke, meanwhile, has been released by Bradford City. The 32-year-old returned to Valley Parade this week after scoring three goals in 14 loan appearances for Quakers.

* New Walsall boss Richard Money has told goalkeeper Andy Oakes, fellow shot-stopper Dean Coleman, player-coach Simon Osborn and striker Taiwo Atieno that they are to leave the club.

Read more about the Quakers here.