Second Grade

A number of clubs are facing deadlines to get their grounds ready in time for the FA's deadlines for eligibility for next season.

In National South, Poole Town's play-off campaign threatens to be derailed by the ground not even coming up to standard for their current league, let alone the one above. The current Southern Premier champions moved into what was basically a school field in 2000 while playing in Step 6 and have gradually improved it to comply with regulations as they moved up the pyramid.

Now, in Step 2, they still need to raise £25,000 of a £70,000 bill to upgrade the ground to the required standard for next season - with a further £50,000 needing to be spent later on - with terracing and floodlight work top of the agenda. Vice Chairman Chris Poole admitted at the weekend it would be 'hearts in mouth' until the ground grading visit in just eight days time.

Failure would see them not only miss out on the play-offs regardless of league position, but also see them relegated back into the Southern League.

Further north, Barrow face tighter guidelines as they look to a return to the Football League some 45 years after leaving.

The Holker Street side have been given until April 6th to provide detailed plans for a potential upgrade to Football League standard, including increasing capacity from the current 4,400 to 5,000.

In previous years clubs only needed outline plans, but are now required to provide full calculations, stamped by a qualified engineer and approved by the Council, to be eligible for promotion. Barrow's complaint is that they have only just been told of this change,

“They are closing the door a little bit tighter, because other clubs may have gone up and not carried out work they said they would.” said Chief Executive Austin Straker. In 2009, Accrington went down the industrial route and bolted seats to existing terracing to comply with regulations, while Crawley's 2,000 capacity East Stand remains the 'temporary' structure that was built in early 2012 to take the capacity to over 5,000.

Meanwhile, in the Southern Premier, Basingstoke Town say they don't know where they will play next season. The mid-table side have seen plans for a new ground turned down by the local Council, having deemed their current home to be too expensive to upgrade.

Their problems are compounded by bankrolling chairman Rafi Razzak pulling out at the end of the season with the club already admitting that it was 'no longer economically or practicably feasible' to stay at their current The Camrose home for even next season.

Attempts to move into a site occupied by the Hampshire FA have failed, and the club are likely to now seek a ground share for the coming season and may yet consider a lower grade of football to tick the economic boxes with the plan to develop The Camrose for retail also hoped to clear club debt.