BRAINTREE TOWN chairman Lee Harding says the club must receive support from their local council or risk the club “going backwards at an alarming rate”.
The Iron have become a regular fixture of Non-League‘s top flight since their promotion in 2011 and finished third last season before losing in the play-offs to Grimsby Town.
This season has proven to be more difficult for the Essex side – they currently sit fourth bottom of the table – and they also face a fight off the pitch.
Cressing Road has been Braintree’s home since 1923 but the club have been asking for a potential new ground for over ten years.
The Iron had hoped a new stadium would be part of the Panfield Lane development in north-west Braintree, but chief Harding says the proposal looks to have collapsed.
“If we don’t get some form of support from Braintree Council soon, we’ll find the club going backwards at an alarming rate,” Harding told BBC Essex.
“We have been trying to work with Braintree Council for 12 or 13 years and at this moment I don’t think we’ve any progress at all.
“That’s a real shame. You look at the progress the football club has made and it’s a success story for the town. We were within touching distance of the Football League last season.”
Braintree are hoping to use the cash from any potential sale of Cressing Road to put towards a new ground although Braintree Council say they have been unable to find a way forward that suits everybody.
A Braintree District Council spokesperson said: “We’ve been in discussions with the football club for some time to see if we could help them in their pursuit to create a new stadium.
“Despite trying to find a suitable solution which was right for the football club, the community as a whole and taxpayers, we regret that we’ve not been able to find a way forward.
“While it remains an important local asset, as a council we have a responsibility to invest taxpayers’ money wisely and prioritise according to need, for example the health investments we have recently announced.”
