WITH plans for a new stadium at Meadow Park near completion, Gloucester City are once again facing up to financial problems that threaten the club's existence.
City hope to submit their plans for a new stadium by the start of the Conference North season on August 17 and hope the lure of a return home will tempt potential investors to come forward.
Less than a year after ambitious plans for a £5 million community stadium were effectively thrown out by Gloucester City Council, the Tigers are desperate to be given a firm route home.
Chairman Nigel Hughes has revealed that gaining permission to build a new stadium – one that is significantly scaled down from the original plan – is vital to the club's future.
In the last few days a key member of the group of potential investors the club had attracted has withdrawn interest, leaving the club in a potentially perilous financial position once more.
The Tigers are still to pay their outstanding debts to landlords Cheltenham Town but hope to have the matter sorted by the time Dave Mehew's squad reconvene for pre-season training in early July.
Explaining that the next four to six weeks could spell the difference between the club thriving or dying, Hughes said it was vital that the planning decision was pushed through and approved.
Talks are still ongoing with the remainder of the group of investors, and Hughes hopes that the lure of finally being close to a return home will spark new interest.
"We dearly want to give our supporters some positive news by the start of the season, but the next two to three weeks are pivotal to the club's future," Hughes said.
"At present we don't have all the funds to pay the required amount to Cheltenham but we are working incredibly hard to get that to them by the agreed deadline.
"We were in advanced talks with a group of investors but one of them, the gel that bound the group together, has decided to step away.
"With that came an amount of money that would have plugged some significant gaps in the finances and put us on a really sound footing for the future.
"We are working incredibly hard behind the scenes to attract further investors to come forward, but we need to have the attraction of having a confirmed route home to do that.
"If we can get that investment then everything is in place structurally for the club to thrive. If not then we will not be able to meet the deadline for the groundshare to continue.
"If that doesn't happen then we will be forced to withdraw from the league and it will be bye bye Gloucester City."
As for the need for the club to return home from their six year flood-enforced exile, Hughes revealed that they are continuing to explore options.
The club met with the council last week to discuss any plans for the Civil Service site on Estcourt Road, but once again affirmed that their preferred choice was to return to Meadow Park.
And with plans progressing well Hughes said that the new scheme, concentrating solely on a football stadium on the site, should be ready to be submitted in the coming weeks.
"We've been actively engaging with all the relevant authorities at to what we needed to do for the reduced scope plans," Hughes said.
"We have carried out a number of tests and flood modelling work based on a scheme that involves just the football ground and not the business land and the results were excellent.
"We have to mitigate against further risks and hopefully we will be in a position in the next four to six weeks to take that forward.
"With all the work we have done with the Highways Agency and the Environment Agency I would hope for a positive outcome to any resubmitted application.
"We met with the council last week to discuss the Civil Service site and by and large it was a positive meeting, despite us having a minor disagreement in the approach that could be taken on that site.
"The council asked us then what our preferred option was and we said that with all the work we had done on it, Meadow Park had to be it.
"But that said, until those plans are approved it would be completely foolish not to at least keep the Civil Service site as a working contingency."
Any parties interested in coming forward to invest are asked to contact club consultant Colin Peake on salesmarketing@gloucestercityafc.com or 07763 831070.
