Dulwich Hamlet on the brink of folding as firm withdraw from bankrolling them
Top of the table Non-League side have been receiving cash from Meadow Residential
NON-LEAGUE'S Dulwich Hamlet are on the brink of folding after the firm that has been bankrolling them withdrew.
The side who are six points clear at the top of the Bostik Premier are stuck in the middle of a dispute between development firm Meadow Residential and Southwark Council.
Meadow have been piling money into Dulwich Hamlet in recent seasons but they are set to pull the trigger on the partnership.
That is because Meadow, who own the club's Champion Hill ground, want to build houses on the site which is worth an estimated £80million.
They have promised to build a new 4,000-seater stadium next to their ground but the council have rejected the move.
The council believe Meadow's plans do not provide enough affordable housing - a minimum of 35 per cent of the development - and has taken court action to block its progress.
In a statement released on the club's website, Dulwich Hamlet's football committee said Meadow has told them it was no longer willing to subsidise the costs of the team.
It said it has been told by Meadow it can have the net profit from match days but as "we have no say in the management, pricing or efficiency of the match-day operations, our profit is dictated to us".
The committee claims it sent a "large list of concerns and urgent questions" to Meadow last week but has not yet received full answers.
Meadow, however, disputes this account and says it cannot be blamed for no longer wishing to pour £170,000 a year into a club it does not own.
In a statement given to Press Association Sport, Meadow points out it bought Champion Hill from the liquidators of a previous failed development plan that had left Dulwich Hamlet homeless.
Subsequently, Meadow has managed and refurbished the stadium, provided free professional support and funded the team's relatively high wage bill of over £8,000 a week before tax.
The developers say this has been part of their plan to find "a solution that wipes out Dulwich Hamlet's substantial debts and provides a new stadium that can sustain a growing club".
On the wage bill, it said: "We have not sought to 'run' the footballing side of the club. We do not own Dulwich Hamlet and our interest has been focused on the planning opportunity, rather than tackling the many operational issues that give rise to the club's unstable finances."
