An audacious plan to enter a football team from Guernsey into the Bulmers Cider Kent League has been hit by the economic downturn.

Guernsey officials wanted a team join the league for next season and are willing to pay for all the sides in the division to travel to and from the island for matches, but one of the men behind the scheme admits they are struggling to raise money from sponsors in time.

James Blower, who is Guernsey Athletics' commercial director, has been putting together a financial plan and representatives from the newly former club have been speaking to the FA and Kent League officials.

He admitted the plan could be delayed by the worsening economic situation.

He said: “There are a lot of people who would like to be involved from a commercial aspect but it would be wrong of me to say it has not had any impact at all because clearly it has.

“People are monitoring their budgets more closely and people are more careful on what they are spending on marketing costs at the moment.”

Any plan for Athletics to enter would need to be approved by the FA and the Kent League’s member clubs by June to allow the team to compete in the county next season.

Mr Blower says they have chosen Kent because of its transport links and because the standard of football would allow the island’s players to develop.

And he says they will not give up if they cannot compete next season.

“We are still optimistic that we can get this project off the ground. We would like to get it going next season but it is not something that we are in for the short term.

“If we can’t get it in place next season we can look to do it in the season after.”

Hear James Blower talking to kmfm's Patrick Gearey about the latest news in the Guernsey plan.