Crisis club Dulwich Hamlet served £121,000 rent bill

DULWICH HAMLET chairman Liam Hickey says the club are on the brink of disaster after being told to pay £121,000 in back rent by their owners.

 

The famous non-league football club have been in a long running battle with owners Meadow Residential, who have cut the club’s budget and increased running costs.

Rio Ferdinand, who is a friend of Hamlet manager Gavin Rose and grew up in Peckham, submitted a bid for nearly £10m to buy the clubs Champion Hill stadium ground from Meadow Residential but this was turned down and the 1893 founded club are on the brink of closure.

“Yesterday evening, the club were served notice that our licence to play at Champion Hill would be terminated immediately,” said Mr Hickey in a statement posted on the club website.

“We are consulting with solicitors on the matter, as we feel they do not have legal grounds to serve such a notice.

“This comes on top of the £121,000 ‘back rent’ bill we were served last week.

“Meadow have not been in touch with the club directly and have only communicated through their solicitors.  This seems to be their preferred method.  We urge Andrew McDaniel and Peter Bennison to try and act with some level of courtesy moving forward, as this tact will get them nowhere.

“We will release another statement as soon as possible and urge all fans to back the team at the next two away games, tonight at Billericay and Saturday at Brightlingsea.”

Dulwich Hamlet fans have been fundraising in a bid to keep the club afloat.

Hamlet manager Rose has worked miracles to get the club to third-place in the Bostik Premier Division table, collecting 65 points from 33 games.

Billericay Town lead the table on 67 points but they do have four games in hand and a vastly-bigger budget than all of the other 23 teams in the division.

Visit Dulwich Hamlet’s website: www.pitchero.com/clubs/dulwichhamlet