MORE than £20,000 needs to be raised to keep a decent playing squad at Basingstoke Town Football Club, according to board members.

The new democratically elected board of the community owned club, comprising Steve Letch as chairman, secretary Steve Williams, Colin Phillimore, treasurer, Martin French, Sarah Parsons and Colin Stoker met for the first time on November 30.

Mr Letch, along with first team manager Terry Brown, addressed the meeting saying that a key task for the board is to raise money for the players’ budget for which no provision had been made at the beginning of the season by the club owner Rafi Razzak.

During the meeting Mr Letch said: “We started with nothing in the pot and have coped well up to this point. But the current rate at which we are raising funds from a variety of sources means we have a big, big fundraising challenge from now until March.

“We need a minimum of £20,000 to maintain a reasonable squad of players. This would require a tremendous effort.”

The change in how the club is run comes following a period of uncertainty when outgoing chairman Mr Razzak had said he would be ending his ongoing financial support to the club.

This left fans and staff unsure as to what would happen with the club, before the idea of a community club came into place and Mr Letch, a long-term Dragons fan, stepped in as chairman.

At the meeting Terry Brown said he understood the situation the club is currently in and asked everyone to back the board and other long-time volunteers engaged in the difficult task of ensuring a successful club.

Following the meeting Mr Williams confirmed that the club were not simply calling upon existing contributors to dig deeper, but to widen those willing to help in any way whatsoever - such as engaging with local businesses and coming forward as volunteers.

Anyone interested in helping the club should contact Mr Williams on 01256 770434 or 07966921584 or email stewill@ hotmail.co.uk.