Chief executive Derek Bowden says Town are aiming not just for a Premier League place but to qualify for the Champions League at some point in the future. Bowden admits that this is a long way down the line but says it is possible.

Bowden said: "I have to admit that, if we go up this season, in 2009/10 our sole objective will be to finish 17th.

"It will be a case of consolidating after that and keeping our place and moving through to the top half.

"Our planned progress will be step by step. Firstly, to get into the Premier League, then to stay there and obtain a strong foothold.

"And then challenge for a Champions League place. This is a long way down the track but it can be done.”

Bowden says that despite the dominance of the big four and Manchester City's attempt to gatecrash the upper echelons of the Premier League, it can still be done by smaller clubs: "Other factors come into play as well, like expert management and effective planning.”

The Town chief executive has also denied a recent newspaper report which claimed that Jon Walters had had a bust-up with Jim Magilton and had subsequently been banned for the club for two weeks.

The frontman spent a fortnight away from the club in the North-West while his wife gave birth to their second child with the couple believed to be keen on a return to the region, where both their families live.

Walters was strongly linked with Stoke City, but despite the club receiving enquiries from the Potters and an unnamed Premier League side, no formal bid was ever made. Bowden says in any case Town would not have sold last season's Player of the Year.

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