Ebbsfleet chairman Duncan Holt said the club will not waste time before making plans for next season after their relegation from Blue Square Premier on Saturday.

Despite their 4-3 win at Tamworth, Fleet were relegated by a single point – though goal difference meant it was essentially two – along with Grays and Forest Green, after spending eight years at the top flight of non-league football.

Their failure to beat the drop ends a chaotic 12 months for the Fleet and throws doubt on the future of manager Liam Daish, who had to rebuild the squad from scratch last summer after only five players were retained from his 2008/09 squad due to budget cuts.

Mr Holt said: "Looking back in the cold light of day, we lost it earlier in the season – in the first few months.

"Our points target to stay up in the end was actually 44 and we achieved that.

"But some strange results for some of the top teams elsewhere did for us. We have just got to accept it and get on with it."

He added: "We will sit down and take stock of the situation this week.

"This possibility was always factored into our plans, we’ve been in and around the relegation zone all season.

"We’ll sit down with the accountant this week and work out the costs and savings of relegation. From there, we’ll go on to make some projections."

One way in which the Fleet will suffer is a reduced cash influx from their main sponsorship deal, which was recently extended with Eurostar.

Mr Holt said: "We have got a firm commitment from them, which is great for us but the size of the deal will be affected. We’ll try to sit down with them as soon as possible."