Both Non-League Clubs In Cambridge In Trouble - 31/01/2007

Relegation could finish off Conference strugglers and former Football League side Cambridge United according to their chairman Lee Power. The club is still running up operating losses of £400,000 a year at the moment. United, which only came out of administration 18 months ago, are still paying £200,00 a year to rent the Abbey Stadium, with plans to buy it back from owners Bideawhile having stalled. Power admitted, 'Things haven't gone for us on the pitch. That's affected crowds and that's been a problem.'

Cambridge City will fight a lawsuit launched by their landlords knowing that failure may spell the end of the Nationwide South club. The suit, which may cost City £300,000, arises from a legal notice filed by the club in October claiming it had received only £2.2m for the 2005 sale of Milton Road. City claim it was worth £12m. Now landlords Ross River are challenging the notice filed with the Land Registry in the High Court and if successful will all but bankrupt City. The company argue that they paid a fair price for the land because of restrictive covenants and a lack of access, but City insist they are entitled to the £10m shortfall.