A love of the beautiful game shared by two football club chairmen turned to venom at the High Court as one of them accused the other of "free-loading" over a £250,000 loan.

Ex-Watford FC chairman Jimmy Russo loaned the cash to Gillingham FC counterpart Paul Scally to ease him out of a temporary cashflow problem more than three years ago.

But Mr Scally did not repay the money until last month - just weeks before the case reached court.

Now Mr Scally must also pay more than £30,000 interest on the loan after Mr Russo denied they had ever been close friends and accused the Gillingham boss of "free-loading".

Mr Scally insisted the £250,000 paid in December 2007 was a no-strings-attached loan from his then "dear friend", but Mr Russo said it was only a short-term bail-out which should have been repaid within six to nine months.

The court heard the Gillingham boss, who needed the cash to fund his family relocation to Dubai from his mansion in Kent - then thought to be worth £4.5m - maintained the loan was interest-free and he was not liable to pay a penny more than the £250,000.

Judge David Wilcox said he accepted Mr Russo's evidence that the two men had not been "close friends", although Mr Scally had told the court that "they holidayed together and did things together, and that their family did things together".

Mr Scally had not come across as an "open and candid witness at all times", he told the court, ruling that it was an "implied term" of the loan that interest would become payable with effect from October 2008 - nine months after the date of the £250,000 cash transfer.

The total amount of interest now payable by Mr Scally is expected to exceed £30,000 and the judge's ruling means the businessman can also now expect a hefty legal costs bill.