Guiseley AFC may be moving first team games to Keighley in a desperate bid to secure a successful future for the club.

Chairman Phil Rogerson issued all supporters who attended last Saturday's home game with a letter outlining a number of options to secure the future of the club, which has been unable to develop its Nethermoor ground, where it has played for nearly 100 years.

He said that from three options the only realistic one at the moment if the team is to continue at the level it has reached, is to move the first team out of town. The suggestion is that the first team moves to play at the Keighley Cougars ground with the reserves, youth and under-15 teams remaining at Guiseley.

Mr Rogerson said that he and fellow director Stuart Allen feel that the only viable option for the club at the moment is to make the move to Keighley where the stadium already has an A-grading.

He said: "I must stress that no decision has been made yet. We put out letters to all our supporters on Saturday and we are looking for feedback from them to help us make up our minds."

He added: "The problems the club has experienced over the past decade with regard to the ground lease, the Jonathon Peat bequest and the lack of planning permission have been well documented but with the lease due to expire next year things have come to a head and decisions have to be made."

The football club's lease at Nethermoor Park expires in September 2003.

Four years ago the club applied to extend the terms of the lease and the matter went to the High Court. Guiseley AFC, currently in UniBond Division One, cannot get the A grading required to move back into the Premier Division without spending a large amount of money on a ground where they have only a year left on the lease and the club claims Leeds City Council has consistently blocked ground improvements and their efforts to move to both Thorpe Lane and High Royds.

Mr Rogerson said: "We just feel we are banging our heads against a brick wall.

"We have carried the club as far as we can at Nethermoor. We have risen from being just another local club to being the flagship for Wharfedale football and the highest placed non-league soccer club in Leeds but instead of that being a matter of pride it seems that we are something they seem to want to ged rid of."

Wharfedale Football Ass-ociation secretary Reg Allwood, who is also a member of the West Riding County FA, said: "If only Leeds City Council would come up with some reason why they don't want to help the football club improve.

"There is just silence. When the club wanted to move to a new stadium a crowd of 6,000 was mentioned but they would never attract that.

"I do not want to see Wharfedale's premier club leave the area. If they move to Cougar Park then they would have to affiliate with the Keighley FA and we would lose our top club.

"Why should a team have to move out of the area to compete at the top levels of non-league football? We should be proud of what they have achieved, not just at senior level.

Mr Rogerson said he is aware that local elections are looming and is asking supporters to quiz their local councillors and candidates about why the City Council seems to have thrown a brick wall up in front of any progress being made by their local football club.

He would see a move to Keighley for the first team as being a period in exile and not a permanent move.

"We would hopefully get the lease and other matters sorted out with the Council - if they would only talk to us - but with the reorganisation of the football pyramid looming the only way for us is downwards if we don't get permission to improve at Nethermoor, move to land locally or make the move to Keighley," said Mr Rogerson.

A spokesman for Leeds Leisure Services said they and Leeds Development Agency will consult with the local Community Involv-ement Team in the next few months with a view to entering into lease discussions with the club later this year.