THE latest multi-million pound projects aimed at revamping Margate Football Club have never been viable, says Thanet council leader Sandy Ezekiel.

Cllr Ezekiel said: “Our latest meeting with financial backers who looked at the club’s options for the Hartsdown Park stadium were interesting.

“In front of council officers, the funders stated quite categorically that they had not been prepared to back the last two projects because they were simply not commercially viable.

“The meeting was positive and they have gone away to see if they can come up with a proposition that is viable. They have no firm offer to put on the negotiating table at the moment.

“They also confirmed that there is no way that the club would be able to reinstate the dug-up pitch in time for the start of the next season in August.

“The club now has to make an informed judgement about its future very quickly. The onus is on Margate FC, and not Thanet council.”

The latest scheme that the club’s acting chairman Keith Piper had put forward was for a rebuilt stadium and a hotel, costing an estimated £6.75 million.

The council has maintained its stance over the Margate FC saga since it imposed a set of deadlines in the autumn. It is not prepared to move forward with any project until firm business and funding plans.

The club has not played regularly at home for the last two seasons, sharing Dover’s ground for its Conference league matches. The bulldozers moved in early last year to demolish terracing and stands and dig up the playing surface.

Former chairman Jim Parmenter, who resigned in early January, said last autumn that the club was losing hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost sponsorship and gate receipts.

Cllr Ezekiel said: “It is a pity that proper project management was not introduced at the early stages of the scheme. The council is looking at other options for the club.

"One consideration now must be that it drops from the Conference next season to the new Conference South division because it simply has not got a ground that meets the league’s requirements.”