WANDERERS can be competitive in League One despite plans to nearly halve their wage budget over the summer, says co-owner Ken Anderson.

Discussing budget plans for next season, the Whites chairman says he is keen to avoid mistakes made by the previous ownership and resist the urge to spend beyond the club’s means.

It is expected the wage budget will shrink from around £12million to between £5-7m next season depending on the number of high-earning players the club can shed over the summer.

While drastic measures are being lined-up, Anderson insists promotion is still the aim. And the planned budget – up to £2m lower than the one predicted by the Football League – will still put Wanderers among the bigger spenders in the division.

“If you look at the budget, and I’ve been through them in the Championship and League One since 2013/14, our planned budget we’ve inherited is higher than most of the other clubs,” he told The Bolton News. “It is probably the same as Wigan, who have the highest budget in League One at the moment.

“The Football League tell me my budget, rather than me telling them, which I don’t like very much. But they told me our budget would be £7m. I think it will be £5m or £6m.

“And I look at Bradford, third in the league, and their budget is £2m. They have over-performed. I see no reason why we can’t perform equally well.”

Anderson hopes Wanderers’ first season in the third tier for 23 years will be their last for the foreseeable but has also spoken about his longer-term vision for the club.

Pointing to the example of Bournemouth, who emerged from financial oblivion in League Two to reach the Premier League, the chairman has not given up hope on taking the club to the big time once again.

“I’d like to think about next season first,” he said. “I’d like to be promoted again.

“Next season that is the task. Being realistic I would like to get back into the Championship and build a team over the next two to three years that can challenge again for the Premier League.

“It’s much more difficult now with the teams that come up and down with parachute payments but if we could emulate what Bournemouth did in 2012/13, that’s where we’re going to be next season.”