By Adam Ellis
Bostik Premier league leaders Dulwich Hamlet have been informed by the owners of their ground, Meadow Residential (MR), and financial management company would revert all payments and obligations to the club’s majority shareholder, Nick McCormack.
With the burden of paying players and staff now weighing heavily on McCormack, Hamlet have taken the step of asking for contributions from supporters to sustain the club’s promotion charge.
A club statement confirmed the intended withdrawal by the development company MR, saying: “On the 26th of October 2017, the football committee were informed that Meadow Residential (current ground owners and club management company as appointed by Nick McCormack) were to end their contractual obligations in regards to player payment and club finances.
“As a football committee, made up of fans of the club who volunteer 1000’s of hours a year to help run the club we love, we were asked to take on what we feel are untenable positions and responsibilities without detailed information on the health of the club in terms of its finances, or without a say in the management of what we see as club facilities.”
With Dulwich Hamlet caught in the middle of a conflict between MR and Southwark Council over the proposed redevelopment of their Champion Hill stadium and the owned land surrounding it.
MR have faced staunch opposition from the Labour-governed local authority and had their planned appeal, scheduled to be heard on 12 December, crumble after a recent ruling on a similar case. A planning and legal battle the Champion Hill owners spent £1.8million on.
The dead in the water proposals had blueprints for 155 new flats and a completely new football stadium, costing £7.5million.
After calling on supporters to come to the club’s aid, the club statement added: “We sent a large list of concerns on 2 November, and urgent questions to be answered to try and make sense of the situation, that have yet to be fully addressed.
“We hope that Meadow and its subsidiaries will be forthcoming with information ASAP, in an effort to rectify what has been a very worrying period for the football club since their planning appeal was pulled after the Greendale lease appeal was lost and ending Meadow’s development plans.”
Hamlet are six points clear at the top of the Bostik Premier and remain unbeaten away from home, where off the field issues risk derailing a season they have excelled in.
HELP THE HAMLET:
Donate to @dhfc12 via PayPal or at home games. #DHFC💖💙 pic.twitter.com/4wswDkc4hv
— Dulwich Hamlet FC (H) (@DulwichHamletFC) November 6, 2017
