A FOOTBALL club is to be saved from financial ruin after securing a multi-million-pound deal with a developer.

Minotaur Clubs Partnership, which helps negotiate deals for organisations around the UK, has brokered a deal which will see part of Chipping Norton Football Club’s ground sold off to developers. In return it will get a new clubhouse and an injection of cash which will help to secure the club’s future.

Part of the land sold will be used for a 228-home development next to the club, between Walterbush Road and Burford Road, with 40 per cent of the homes affordable.

The remaining land for housing is being sold by Chadlington farm.

Construction could start in six months.

Kim Clarke, 67, who manages the football clubhouse with her daughter Lisa Cozier, 37, said: “It’s the only thing for the club really. It’s either that or we would have to close. It’s good because we are in such an old building and so many repairs need to be made. The cost of everything has gone up but our takings haven’t.”

The club is funded entirely by bar takings, and Mrs Clarke and her daughter are both employed full-time.

They will leave the club temporarily when it closes in January and return to work when the new clubhouse is built. Minotaur will help with financial management.

Football matches on the club’s pitches will continue as normal.

Michael Foster, of Minotaur Group of Companies, said in a statement: “Minotaur Clubs Partnership was introduced to Chipping Norton Football Club 12 months ago when the club was in severe financial difficulty and was about to enter into a deal with a local developer that would have certainly meant it shutting for good.

“Minotaur stepped in at the 11th hour and renegotiated the whole deal to ensure the football club will now get a brand new, purpose-built, state-of-the-art football clubhouse and, very importantly as well, a big chunk of money to be injected into the football club entity.”

The new clubhouse will replace the current dated facility and will be built north-west of the football ground on a grassland site. It will have up to 40 car parking spaces.

Mayor Mike Tysoe said the council approved of the scheme, which it would discuss at a planning meeting on December 17.

“Some details still need to be sorted out but they are fairly small.”

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