6:00am Saturday 7th April 2007
HOUNSLOW BOROUGH, who withdrew from the Sport Italia Hellenic League this week after a mass of debts forced them to fold, are going out of business.
Chairman Stefan Poulos revealed: "It's the end for us. The Middlesex FA suspended us for the third time on Monday because our fines had still not been paid. We owed them £1,270 and the Hellenic League £1,716, in fines, fees and expenses for various rule breaches over recent months.
"We had 10 home games still to play which would have cost us £322 each in ground hire from Bedfont and match officials fees of £97 so that would have totalled another £3,220. Raising a total of more than £6,000 was beyond us."
Poulos, 63, an Isleworth mortgage adviser, added: "A sponsor had agreed to give the Middlesex FA £1,270 but the cheque was then stopped and we found ourselves suspended again. The most we could raise was a bank loan of £3,500 using personal property as surety, but the debts had zoomed out of control."
The club's players have now been suspended until the debt to the Middlesex FA is paid, but the position of manager Dennis Bainborough is unclear.
Bainborough, 56, a former youth team manager at Millwall said: "The FA have told me I am not under suspension, but I am gutted for the players. Under Stefan Poulos and John Davis, who was acting chairman during the two months before Poulos returned after quitting in January, the club has gone down the pan this season. I am so annoyed after taking the club into the Premier Division as champions last season to see all the hard work go to waste. The club's demise is mainly down to bad organisation."
Next-to-bottom Hounslow, who had had a point deducted because their assistant manager Carlton Mitchell was in the dug out at Shrivenham in his capacity as physio while he was suspended as a player, had lost 1-0 at home to Carterton last Saturday, but did not fulfil their home fixture with leaders North Leigh on Wednesday.
Poulos, who founded the club 20 years ago as a youth team called Osterley Park Rangers, stressed: "It is heart-breaking. During the two months I was away fines were incurred and when they were not paid they were doubled and then doubled again. I don't intend to reform the club - my health is not good and it has put me under a lot of pressure.
"I have told the League I will pay them £2,500 to cover the debt to them, including a possible fine of £1,000 for withdrawing before the end of the season."
Hounslow Borough's record has already been expunged from the Premier Division with all results and points being deleted.
HIGHWORTH TOWN striker Justin Miller has called time on his career with the Wiltshire club to concentrate on his tennis coaching career.
The former Swindon Supermarine striker asked if his contract could be ripped up, after a string of disappointing performances, admitting his venture into full-time tennis coaching has affected his game.
Miller has been given permission to help out Southern League Didcot in midweek when needed Highworth manager John Fisher insists Miller deserves "all the credit in the world" for the way he has acted.
Fisher added: "Justin wants to be a full-time tennis coach and with all the exams he was taking he felt he couldn't give the club the time they deserved. It would have been easy for him to sit it out and keep picking up his money but, fair play to him, he said it would be best for all concerned to call it quits now."
HUNGERFORD TOWN boss Alan Clark has admitted "the only way is up" for his struggling Premier Division side.
Town had to rely on Craig Shand's 90th minute equaliser last weekend as they salvaged a dramatic late point in a 1-1 draw against Abingdon Town. Despite Shand's late leveller, Clark still felt it was two points dropped rather than a point gained as Hungerford's dismal recent scoring record continued.
He said: "We've lost all our confidence in front of goal and just can't score. We've stopped doing all the good things we were doing earlier in the season and we've really drifted off the pace in the league.
"We seem to need 10 shots to score one goal at the moment. We were scoring three or four times a game earlier in the season but we're struggling to score one a game now.
"We've got two hard away games over Easter, although all the games are difficult when you're playing like we are. We're not playing like we can and we need to have a good, hard look at ourselves. It's hard to put your finger on what's wrong so we just have to keep working hard and hopefully we'll come through this little sticky patch. There's only one way we can go at the moment and that's up."
Things will not get any easier for Hungerford over the weekend as they travel to struggling Pegasus Juniors today before facing another difficult trip to Shrivenham on Easter Monday. Town will certainly need to sharpen up in front of goal over the Easter weekend after they missed a string of chances in last Saturday's stalemate against Abingdon.
Hungerford made a double swoop on deadline day. They signed Jason Brizzell from Milton United and Adam Little from Clanfield, with both players expected to start off in the reserves before pushing for a first team place.
CINDERFORD TOWN chairman Ashley Saunders has taken the decision to withdraw the club's reserve team from Division One of the reserve section.
Saunders aid the the decision was due to the many and varied problems with the reserve team this season, including team management issues, problematic playing surface and recently administrative problems within the club.
Saunders said the decision was not made lightly and he hopes Cinderford Town will be back in the not too distant future.
LATEST TRANSFERS:
Jason Brizzell, Milton United to Hungerford Town; Ellis Bicknell, Letcombe to Kidlington); Nathan Lumber, Almondsbury Town to Winterbourne United; Gerard Kelly, Old Woodstock Town to Carterton; John Daly, Chipping Norton OB to Carterton Vets; Marcus Hall, Highworth Town to Purton; John Steadman, Carterton to Thame United; Leon Cozier, Chinnor to Old Woodstock Town; Tom Roberts, Bicester Town to Old Woodstock Town; Sam Zappi, Abingdon United to Didcot Town; Gareth Tucker, Kidlington to Abingdon Town; Adam Little, Clanfield to Hungerford Town; Craig Mays, Old Woodstock Town to North Leigh; Stivelle Cooper, Cheltenham Saracens to North Leigh; Joe Wood, Carterton to North Leigh; Lee Moseley, North Leigh to Witney United.
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