Derbyshire football club ask to be relegated to focus on youth teams and community work

A Derbyshire football club has asked to be relegated so it can spend more money and time on their youth teams and refurbish community facilities.

Staveley Miners Welfare FC currently sit mid-table in the Northern Counties East Football League Premier Division.

The chairman and owner, Terry Damms, released a lengthy statement on Twitter, asking for the club to be repositioned in the Northern Counties East League Division One for the 2022/23 season.

In it, he said he wanted to restructure the club's finances that would see that club free from debt and financially self-sustainable with the "best facilities."

In 2019, the club secured loans and grants to transform their ground at Inkersall Road.

Damms said he was "appalled" when he visited local grounds.

"I am at times appalled when I visit grounds that have had little or no fan facilities improvements in years yet I hear budgets of £1,500 to £2,000 a week. It is, for me, immoral where fans suffer with no ground toilets or where changing rooms are filthy and dangerous.

"My primary target here is to provide the best possible facilities for our fans, for those using and visiting the ground seven days a week."

His plans also include the build of a new educational facility.

"The community and families of Staveley will know that their community football club is here to stay for them," he added.