SALISBURY City wish to distance themselves from the ‘wild and unfounded’ rumours concerning striker Matt Tubbs, who is being linked with a move to a fellow Blue Square Premier side Crawley Town.

General manager Nick Holmes said that Whites’ leading goalscorer remains fully committed to the club and will not be moving anywhere.

Holmes said: “Matt’s a proven goalscorer and because of that he’s always going to be linked with other clubs. But there is absolutely no truth in the story that he’s going out on loan to Crawley.

“There are always enquiries about players who are in form, but even if the player wanted to move on would it really be in his interest to move sideways to Crawley, who are three places above us in the table?”

Despite City being in administration, Holmes insists the club’s current financial constraints do not mean they need to sell their star players.

“We’ve got one of, if not the smallest squad in the division. So why would we want to reduce it further?”

Holmes confirmed that Crawley had made an enquiry about the striker last week, but it was by Evans’ assistant Paul Rayner and was immediately rebuffed by City first team boss Tommy Widdrington.

A report on the Crawley News website quotes Town boss Steve Evans as saying he had targeted Tubbs and that City needed to reduce their wage bill.

But Holmes dismissed the accusation.

“These are just wild rumours. They’re completely unfounded and I’d suggest it’s no coincidence that we’re playing Crawley Town in a week’s time!”

The prolific Tubbs, who is still only 25, has scored 122 goals in 259 appearances for the Whites since his arrival in October 2003 and is club’s fifth leading goalscorer of all time.

Whites, who are at home to Rushden & Diamonds on Saturday, are still confident they will reach an agreement with their creditors and be out of administration in the near future.