Guiseley AFC Chairman Phil Rogerson has indicated that if his club does not get permission to improve the ground at Nethermoor Park then they may well have to look at moving out of the area.

The club has had a plan for a new covered terracing at the railway end of the ground in for approval with Leeds City Council for almost a year now and expect to hear the decision in the next couple of weeks.

Rogerson is rightly concerned at the length of time it has taken the council to even consider this plan for a few steps of terracing with a roof over.

The club is also in discussions with council officials over extending their lease, which runs out in four years time, to enable them to take up the offer of local businessman Brendan Larkin. He has offered financial assistance to improve the ground in the Council owned Nethermoor Park.

Mr Larkin's proposed in put -in exchange for him having a commercially run sports hall on the site - would allow the club to seek grants from other bodies to enable them to bring their ground up to Conference League standard.

At the moment the Guiseley ground is not even up to the standards set by the league they play in -the UniBond Premier Division.

Rogerson said: 'If we don't get things done within a couple of years we could well be on our way out of the UniBond Premier League in which we finished third this season and were league cup finalists.

The league have told us that if things are not improved within two years we will be relegated. Temporary buildings are not allowed in the UniBond and that is all we have to offer for entertaining visiting directors and league officials.

Rogerson said that he had had discussions with MP Paul Truswell over the proposals for Nethermoor and the club is now asking for formal clarification of what the legal status of the park is.

Various Leeds City Councillors and planning officers have been sent a copy of the club's proposals but no planning application has yet been made.

Rogerson hinted that if things cannot be sorted out with Leeds City Council then the club that has twice played in FA Vase finals at Wembley and had historic first round FA Cup ties with Chester City and Carlisle United would have to look elsewhere for a home.

He confirmed that the club had made some enquiries about the possibility of moving to Ben Rhydding Sports Club.

The club is seeking the support of local residents and townspeople in their bid to get Leeds City Council to look at the lease situation now and to look favourably on plans to improve the sporting facilities at Nethermoor.

Guiseley have announced that they will play Huddersfield Town in a pre-season friendly on Thursday, July 29. This is a game organised as a reward for Guiseley loaning Huddersfield goalkeeper Steve Dickinson for a couple of Town Reserve team games last season. Dickinson has since agreed to a move to Southport in the Conference.

Guiseley Reserves are hoping to be playing in a new league next season. They have applied to join the Lancashire League joining the North West Alliance exodus along with Morecambe, Altrincham, Runcorn and Lancaster City.

Clubs already in the Lancashire League include Macclesfield, Leek Town, Marine, Southport and Northwich Victoria.

Guiseley AFC's reserve and academy teams are holding a joint presentation night in the Guiseley clubhouse tonight, Thursday.

The Reserves are also expecting to be back in training next Wednesday.

Manager Brett Ferriday wants the players to be ready to help out when the first team pre-season friendlies come along.

'Last season I felt that some of the lads had enough skill to play with the first team in the early season games but they were not fit enough by a long way.

I want them to be ready this time when the first team manager calls. '

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