Oxford United have welcomed what is effectively the end of the Football Conference wage cap - but say they still need to act prudently to make sure the club doesn't get into serious debt.

Conference clubs voted at this month's annual meeting in favour of a proposal to ease the limits on the approved player budget (APB), which clubs have to submit before and, if necessary, during the course of a season.

It opens the door for clubs to spend more money on players, and should help the chances of 'big-hitters' Oxford, Stevenage, Torquay, Wrexham and Rushden to achieve promotion to the Football League.

Instead of the APB restrictions which, in general terms, limited clubs to spend no more than 60 per cent of their turnover on players' wages, but in fact was a much more complicated formula that that, the Blue Square League will in future keep tabs on club finances themselves in a bid to end the spate of clubs plummeting down the pyramid.

Conference general manager Dennis Strudwick hopes the new initiative will see an end to clubs going to the wall after the recent demise of Halifax, Boston and Nuneaton.

He said: "It has not been a very good few weeks for football with the news that Boston, Nuneaton and Halifax, three well-known clubs, are leaving the Conference family," said Strudwick.

"We feel, especiallly in the current climate, that clubs need to be more prudent, based on their actual turnover.

"The APB, although never at any point being an actual salary cap as many were led to believe, did not fail. "We feel a change of emphasis is required. I liken it to the law about crash helmets. It is important to get cyclists to wear them, but if they choose not to and then there's a crash, there are big problems."

Oxford United general manager Mick Brown, who is on the Conference's board of directors, said: "It's true that there will be no wage cap in the Conference next season. We haven't ruled out going back to it at a future date, but we are looking at a change of direction.

"We have been talking to the FA for a long time about this and about another arrangement - self-certification in respect of clubs' own particular circumstances. But to try to put into place a scheme that makes it a level playing field for everybody is very difficult.

"A pilot wage cap scheme in the lower divisions of the Football League is also being done away with, I've heard."

The change in direction is just another stage in the move that the Conference's new administration have made away from their old Dartford base to Birmingham.

Brown said: "I saw the Deloitte Touche report recently that 40 clubs - Oxford United of course being one of them - have gone into administration since Aldershot did in 1992. That is quite some number.

"Clearly, clubs need to act in a financially prudent way. Just because an arbitrary figure is set doesn't mean that it is going to work well for everyone. Some clubs have hidden behind the wage cap. But it was not exactly a percentage of turnover, as some have said, there was a lot more to it than that."

"There will undoubtedly be a continued review of football's finances," he added.

The end of the wage cap should help the richer clubs, and those that attract bigger gates, to achieve success by spending more on better players.

Said U's chairman Nick Merry: "You've got to find a blend between spending out to achieve results and over-spending in a way that might put the club in trouble.

"But success is our aim for the football club and if an opportunity came about to take on a player of extra quality, we would do that, and take advantage of this change in the situation.

"We have set the budget for next season prior to this, and Darren (Patterson) is quite happy with it. But that doesn't mean that we wouldn't consider extending it if a particular player become available.

"If he wanted to go for someone - and we're now able to take advantage of this change with the wage cap - he would have our support."

The most likely scenario would be for the U's to splash out more during the January transfer window on improving their squad for a second half of the season assault on promotion, providing they were well placed to do so.