ASHFORD Town owner Tim Thorogood has admitted he went close to giving up the fight to keep control of the club during the 'turf war' for Homelands Stadium.

Speaking in the build-up to the new Ryman League season the London businessman said he had seriously considered his options while on a holiday in Spain this summer after ground owners Ashford Holdings sent in the bailiffs over alleged non-payment of rent for the last two years.

Mr Thorogood, manager of the Town team, as well as the leaseholder for the ground, was already committed to going away when the dispute blew up last month.

He said: "I asked myself why I was putting myself and my family through all this stress.

"It came down to the fact that I had done nothing wrong, the club had done nothing wrong and none of the officials in the club had done anything wrong so I felt we needed to and say so and fight.

"I always knew we were in the right and we needed to stand up for ourselves.

"We had a perfectly legal lease and, although we always conceded the rent hadn’t been paid, there were perfectly valid reasons.

"When they suddenly dropped this demand on us we were not happy with the figures and we were obviously going to dispute that.

"The lawyers always felt we had a strong case but, although the problem is settled now, it is not going to just go away as the ground owners have their own agenda.

"It was a very difficult time but after talking it over with my family they were behind me I am determined to try to improve this club’s fortunes.

"It is not going to be easy. The club is stable and financially sound and we know what our debts clearly are."

Mr Thorogood added, however, that the club’s budget would have to be cut.

He said: "All the utility prices have risen dramatically and the dispute has obviously hurt us in image and also in that we have lost several players that were lined up to join us."

The club sponsors have continued their support but Mr Thorogood has appealed to the town as a whole and its businesses for more support.

He said: "We have done a lot behind the scenes and had lots of plans to get more into the community this year which were disrupted by the dispute but our squad of players have responded well.

"It is a young and relatively inexperienced squad but I can promise the supporters that they have great attitude and will play their hearts out.

"The attitude at pre-season has been just fantastic."

Assisting him this season as joint manager is John Cumberbach and they are both realistic.

Mr Thorogood said: "We are both passionate about how we want things done and need the supporters to get behind the club."