Grounds For Complaint

Two Greater Manchester clubs with an unusual link are facing severe financial problems in the coming weeks.

The Danebank was a terrace at historic football ground the Drill Field. It has since been moved to the Victoria Stadium and Broadhurst Park, with both clubs now facing challenges.

FC United of Manchester has told its owners, the supporters, that it is in a "worrying financial position" and that it will have to seek an overdraft facility next month.

The club, formed as a protest against the Glazer takeover at Manchester United and the switching of Saturday 3pm kick offs for financial reasons, had a firmly anti-debt stance throughout its existence. But their ambitious plans to build their own home have seen them spiral quickly into a uncertain future.

The club says it is set to make a loss this season, having seen gates drop some 25% on last term after moving up to National North, and it says it won't have the money to make further improvements to their new £6.3million Broadhurst Park home that they are obligated to this summer, nor meet repayment terms to existing lenders. They suffered a further blow yesterday when their home game was called off just an hour before kick off.

Some of the blame has been foisted on former staff and Directors at the club, calling the staffing structure "not fit for purpose" and financial plans for last season "unrealistic".

Meanwhile, the Evo-Stik League Northern say they have received official notice that Northwich Victoria are to appoint an Administrator.

The nomadic side has had an eventful history under the ownership of the Rushe family. Jim Rushe was part of a consortium to buy the club out of Administration in late 2007, but subsequently saw their Victoria Stadium home sold from underneath them and a move to Stafford, then Flixton, before taking up a second residency at Witton Albion, where they had played while the Victoria Stadium was constructed following the Drill Field's sale.

Rushe senior handed the club to son Martin when he not only failed the FA's Fit and Proper Person test, but was subsequently convicted of conspiring to supply Class A drugs and sentenced to six years in prison in July. The club has flirted with financial disaster through much of the Rushe family's ownership, and saw a large proportion of their fanbase leave to form a new club in 2012, Northwich 1874, when the club took on a groundshare in Stafford, more than 40 miles from their previous home.

The Vics now average just 113 supporters at Step 4, down by nearly half on last season, with the 1874 phoenix attracting 225 in the league below.

A club statement says ownership is to be transferred to the Supporters Club as soon as possible in a 'smooth and solvent transition'.

Both clubs have the root of their problems in agreements for building stadia that were not necessarily the right deals for the clubs. The Vics leaving ownership of their ground to a former Chairman, FC United in signing up for a deal that was incredibly ambitious for a side with limited commercial income.