Nationwide South Welling United may face an £80,000 bill in the wake of the tornado which brought devastation to part of London on Thursday.
The same storm that devastated homes in north London brought a 60ft floodlight pylon at the Park View Road ground crashing onto the pitch with such force, it was embedded in the turf.
The pylon, one of eight, was snapped near its base by the force of the wind.
The club called in structural engineers to inspect the remaining pylons - and have been told to replace the entire system as a precautionary measure, said secretary Barrie Hobbins.
Damage to the pitch led to yesterday's Kent League game between Welling's tenants, Erith & Belvedere and Faversham Town being called off.
Next Satuday, Welling and visitors Basingstoke Town have agreed to bring their FA Trophy first round tie forward to 1.30pm because of the lack of floodlights.
They will try to make similar arrangements for home games until the system is replaced.
"We have to replace the whole system and it could cost us between £50,000 and £80,000," added Hobbins.
"It could take weeks to replace and having Christmas in the way will not help," he added
80k is mucho money when faversham paid 2k for theirs and Moor Greens werent dear either.
I would imaging that the bulk of that if not ALL will come from a football grant, insurance and erith. Frankly i cant believe our lights were allowed to degenerate that much maybe its a blessing they came down when they did, would hate to think if they came down on the terrace during a game.
They should get the people in who did the other side of the pitch so they match up.
-- Edited by JgFc at 15:09, 2006-12-12
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Alexander O'Neal 1987 "I'm fed up cos all you wanna do is criticize "
I cant believe they actually matched up to standards.When we played VCD at PVR this season in the FA cup midweek I realised how poor the floodlights were! Parts of the pitch are very dark,it was worse than mostly all county league grounds!
This is where the club NEEDS to get its commercial arse in gear!
Golf Day, Welling United Day in the main road. attack all shops and business with flyers and complimentary tickets to bring in sponsors. Turn the new stand or half of it into a family enclosure. Sell it in the local press. Charlton are useless and some fans MUST be considering jacking them in. ENTICE THEM to PVR. Get the Club Shop working on main site, James can use the same software he sells his videos with for the Club Shop. Welling United Open Day, Sell a square of the pitch to businesses. Sell the fence advertising at the road end. The lighting round the back of the stand. get an electrical shop to stump up for a couple of halogens and give them a match sponsorship and advert. Jesus 30 mins with yellow pages should sort that.
Dont just say "it has to be found from elsewhere, that could be the keds money... Go and get the money. Its not rocket science as ive said countless times.
A commercial Department (and thats the club not Barry Wallis) should bring in money and have ideas. Im also aware Barry recently had a health issue so get well soon Bazza.
We have a website that could bring in FREE money but it isnt doing it. We are doing really well, good cup runs, good crowds and budget cuts... Wake up and smell the coffee, if we need some drive to bring in funds for the push to the conference then pay them and bring them in.
Its like smashing my head against a brick wall.
The manager and team are superb, the owners are in the dark ages when it comes to business accumen and business growth and ambition.
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Alexander O'Neal 1987 "I'm fed up cos all you wanna do is criticize "
Sad to say but as I said earlier look critically at the club's statement about the raising of monies to replace the floodlights - "Whatever happens I can assure our fans we will not be cutting the budget – the money has to come from elsewhere." I fear you will draw the same conclusion as I have, Sorry Ade but unless there is some kind of miraculous financial windfall ANY TRANSFER FEE WE MAY GET FOR KED'S WILL GO STRAIGHT TO THE FLOODLIGHT FUND.
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YOUTH are the future
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"The worst thing you can do is make a committment and not meet it and I understand that." Barrie Hobbins 14 August 2010
