STAUNCH Gillingham supporter Alan Liptrott faces the heartbreak of a life ban from Priestfield after Gillingham chairman Paul Scally rejected an attempt by Nationwide League chief executive David Burns to mediate in their dispute. Mr Liptrott, former chairman of the 800-strong Gills Independent Supporters' Club, has been banned from the ground since the start of the season after refusing to sell his website domain name to Mr Scally.

Last week Mr Burns personally intervened with an offer to mediate in the hope of resolving the matter. Many regard his intervention as the last chance of breaking the deadlock. But Mr Scally retorted: "He won't be a mediator because I don't need to be told what is right and what is wrong."

He has also promised to publish a document explaining why he is in dispute with the Independent Supporters' Club.

His stance drew an angry response from Mike Keskey's, vice-chairman of the Gills Independent Supporters' Club.

He said: "I feel total despair because this was such an excellent opportunity to sit down round a table and sort this out. I have said all along that the dispute should never have got to this stage. We genuinely believed that Mr Burns, with his considerable influence, could bring about a settlement, so we were delighted when we heard of his offer.

"But we are not giving up hope of seeing Alan back inside Priestfield because we still hope Mr Burns can resolve the matter.

Mr Keskeys has reassured members of the 800-strong Gills Independent Supporters' Club that the committee were fully committed to restoring working relations with the parent club after Mr Scally banned them from all forms of sponsorship.

He added: "Can I make it crystal clear that we, as a supporters' club, want to get back to developing a working relationship with the football club. We want to raise money that will benefit the club. For instance, when you look through the programme you see the number of players who are not sponsored. We would love to sponsor players and matches."

Mr Liptrott, who has been a Gillingham supporter for the best part of 30 years, declined to comment.