Derry City manager Kenny Shiels has spoken of the restrictions his club have to contend with in comparison to some of their League of Ireland rivals.
The Candystripes' young team enjoyed a landmark win over reigning League of Ireland champions Dundalk in the Premier Division on Monday night to make it three wins from three and move up to second behind Cork City.
It follows a creditable third place finish last season when they finished behind Dundalk and Cork City. This season they are spending the campaign at Maginn Park instead of their traditional Brandywell home which is undergoing redevelopment.
"We've got the 20% VAT for a start, which other clubs don't have because we're from the North," he told Off The Ball.
"We've got restrictions. We've got the extra costs and extra expenses of playing in someone else's stadium and that means it curtails how much we can spend on our budget.
"We use this as a motivational tool as well because we know that we're very humble and again, the players understand that everybody has to get their hands dirty. That goes from the manager to the chairman.
"The chairman has been brilliant. He doesn't bother me. He just lets me get on with it and if I'm working in that environment then I'm at ease and can manage the team so much better."
He explained that the first team uses council facility for practices, recovery and preparation.
"We're moving from pillar to post. We've got the Foyle Arena which is our base. We don't have a stadium anymore for this season which means there is a massive inconvenience. You're guided by the weather and we've been very fortunate that it's been a very dry winter in comparison to normal winter and you're going from maybe at the last minute having to move venues because some teams from the city need facilities to play their weekend games and we can't be bludgeoning in on that. It's unfair to them. So we're moving about and tip-toeing around and it's very hard to prepare. The training facilities are difficult."
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