BASINGSTOKE Town FC are hopeful of starting their 2020-21 campaign at their new home.

The club have been forced to play at Winchester last season after being kicked out of the Camrose stadium.

However, as previously reported, they struck an agreement to play at the Hampshire FA complex in Winklebury and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council approved funds to upgrade the ground so that it is at the required level.

Now, the club's vice chairman, Kevin White, says that it would be "ideal" to start the new campaign there, currently scheduled for September 19.

"I spoke to the council last week about what they would be doing at Winklebury and they’re hopeful for a mid-September finished.

"Then the ground needs to be graded. There’s a seven to ten day waiting time to get the Southern league down, but we’ve been updating the Southern league frequently on the time scales of things like that so they know it’s a priority.

"To give us a bit of breathing space, it would be ideal if that game on the 19th was an away game, but I’m hoping that we’d start the league season and have the whole season at Winklebury."

He added that should there be any delays, they would start the season at Winchester.