Marske United aiming to raise £120,000 in two weeks to avoid going bust

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Coaches, players and fans of Marske United FC have come together to call for support as the non-league club has only two weeks to stump up £120,000 to complete the season.

Following the departure of the chairman and the Northern Premier League blocking plans from the current board for the club to move to a limited company, it now has two weeks to raise the amount to continue this season.

So far supporters of the club, local businesses and even celebrities have raised around £25,000.

Team Manager, Graeme Lee, told ITV News Tyne Tees: "The support has been phenomenal and people are trying their best in football and local people, around the area, just trying their best to hopefully make this club continue".

Pay for the semi-professional player has slowed over the last month and Jason Kennedy, one of the current players, said it is "difficult", but what they do on the pitch is what matters.

He added: "We are part-time and some of the lads, it’s their sole wage, so it’s obviously difficult, but I think as a player, we’ve just got to be as professional as we can. We go out every Saturday and we perform to the best of our ability."

Supporters of the club told ITV News it is about more than just football. One man said: "I started coming 15 years ago with my grandad, he’s not here with us unfortunately, but I’ve still got his scarf here and it’s little things like that, everyone’s got their own story."

While a woman said: "It brings everyone together. The great community atmosphere and obviously the football’s brilliant to watch and we always have a great day."

And a former player of the club said: "When we talk about friendships, that’s what you find here. Saturday afternoon I wouldn’t know what to do, because of the camaraderie, you meet different people, it’s absolutely tremendous."

Running non-league clubs like Marske can be testing financially. On Friday 15 December, North Shields FC issued a statement saying all of its management and playing staff had left the club with immediate effect due to the club's financial issues. It now has to rebuild from scratch to survive.

FA club consultant, Frank Bell, told ITV News, it is a worrying trend for clubs in non-league.

He said: "Norton and Stockton, Jarrow Roofing, Celtic Nation, Brandon are going, but we’ve seen larger clubs as well, clubs like Bury and Macclesfield, and I think that we just need to be careful that we don’t confuse our ambitions with our abilities. Quite often it’s really just down to overspend at the end of the day."

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