I will not jeopardise the long-term future of the club by groundsharing, says Metrogas secretary Tim Morgan

METROGAS secretary Tim Morgan says the club cannot afford promotion despite claiming back-to-back NRG Gym Kent County League Premier Division titles.

The New Eltham based outfit secured the title with a 2-0 win at Erith 147 Sports on Tuesday night, on the same night that the club reserve side were defeated by Lewisham Borough 2-1 in the Barry Bundock West Kent Challenge Shield Final at Sevenoaks.

Roy Davies’ side deserve a crack at the Kent Invicta League, but Metrogas share their facilities with cricket and a groundshare deal at a local club will put The Gas in jeopardy.

“I guess short-term is a good way to describe it,” said Mr Morgan.

“We’ve looked at the short-term and short-term is obviously to groundshare because we don’t have the facilities at Metrogas.

“The sports club at Metrogas has always been very supportive of the football side. Sadly the lease requires multiple sports.

“We’d mainly need floodlights, permanent barriers, hard standing at our ground, which is not going to be achievable, certainly not in the short term.

“In my eyes do it the right way, do it at our home ground.

“This club has been running since 1888 and short term you only have to look at Woodstock Sports (folding) over the last couple of days and Lingfield getting demoted from the Southern Counties East Football League.

“We have to make sure if we’re doing it, we’re doing it right and ultimately my job as secretary of this club that’s got so much history is to protect it and there’s always a chance if we overstretch ourselves financially via groundsharing -because they are expensive - it would jeopardise the long-term future of the club and I can’t do that.

Meanwhile, Mr Morgan praised Davies for guiding the club to back-to-back titles.

“I’m ecstatic to win the league and once again all the hard work the club has put in behind the scenes and on the pitch is credit to everyone there.

“We’ve got a fantastic bunch of lads, good friends who love playing for Metrogas, have done for many years and as such we won’t be weakened by not getting promoted. We’ll remain a strong side and I will continue to try to improve the club across all its sides.”

Visit Metrogas’ website: http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/metrogasfc