FIELD boss Steve Vickers admires Bradford rivals Campion's move onto the non-league ladder, but doesn’t want his club to follow them anytime soon.

Vickers is at the beginning of his pre-season schedule for the West Yorkshire League Premier Division, while James Bicknell – his opposite number at Campion – is three games into his friendly fixtures.

“It’s a big bold move by Campion, and I was talking to James a week or so back and they are all really keen and looking forward to the challenge," said Vickers.

“For me it’s enough of a challenge keeping going because I just don’t think that enough money filters through to the grassroots.

"We keep hearing about the massive sums of money in the game at the top end and how committed they are in ensuring that some of it benefits the game at this level but I just don’t see it, and the people I speak to at other grass-roots clubs don’t see it either.”

Vickers feels that the clubs at the heart of the communities are also being let down by local authorities and ignored by sponsors and local businesses.

He said: “It’s very difficult to get any money into these clubs and it’s almost impossible to find training facilities, especially when the bad weather comes.

“I think that the local councils could, and should, do a lot more. Look at Albion Sports as an example – they were desperate to find a ground in Bradford, their home town, that could sustain their climb up the leagues but they couldn’t.

“They had to move out of town and pay for a ground-share with an Evo-Stik League club, and that shouldn’t have to happen.

"Kully (Albion manager Kulwinder Sandhu) is a great bloke who’s doing a fantastic job and he must feel as though he’s banging his head against a wall.

“Anyway, that’s my rant over and I make no apologies for it because it’s something I’m passionate about.

"Grass-roots football is something that includes and brings pleasure to huge numbers of people. I just wish it got credit for that, and the help and funding that it deserves.”