Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth said that it will be difficult to keep up with the spending of certain clubs in League Two this summer.
The beginning of the league season is still a month away, but many teams have already displayed their intent on challenging at the top in the transfer market.
Chesterfield and Port Vale have been among the most eye-catching movers in the market, although Salford City have been typically free spending under new manager Peter Cklamovksi.
The Ammies have paid fees for League One winger Abraham Odoh and striker Macualay Langstaff, who was the top scorer in the division when he was with Notts County, adding to the reported £700,000 combined they spent on Ryan Graydon and Daniel Udoh last season.
Teams with sizeable budgets are not a new thing at the level, with Milton Keynes Dons having been promoted with a wage bill that dwarfed most others last term, although, according to Capology, Bristol Rovers and Crawley Town were second and third for spending last year, neither of whom finished in the top half.
Read more
The drill Holloway believes will turn Town players from 'losers to winners'
Swindon plan to step up moves for key targets after return from Alicante
Swindon's positional battles: which players are pushing to start this season?
Last season, Swindon Town had the seventh-largest wage bill in the fourth tier, and are believed to have kept their budget at roughly the same mark, around £3 million.
That is likely to be around the same area this term, although relegated clubs like Port Vale and Rotherham United will be towards the top of the spending charts.
Ainsworth said that it would again be the case that a number of teams were pouring a lot of resources into promotion bids, and the rest would have to find ways to compete with them.
Speaking to Kent Online, he said: "Your Salfords and Port Vales look like they're spending big, really going for it, signing some big players, so we're going to have to contend with that, but it's not always the biggest budget.
“Last year MK Dons came second to Bromley and Bromley were way smaller budget and managed to do it, but MK are obviously big spenders and the second place, you probably would have put them there because of the wages they were paying and the players they were bringing in, like a League One team in League Two.
"We're trying to compete as always, and there will be some big spenders again, but we're not going to be in the bottom half, we'll definitely be in the top half of the wage structures.”
