Express & Star

Stafford Rangers fight for future amid extinction fear

Stafford Rangers are urging everyone connected with the club and beyond to ‘stand together’ as they draw up an action plan to stave off ‘extinction’.

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The coronavirus outbreak has left many football clubs fighting to stay afloat, with fixtures currently postponed and social distancing championed, leaving them with no income streams.

EFL clubs have already been promised £50million, but non-league teams do not have that luxury and Northern Premier side Rangers are aiming to take action themselves to ensure their future – while also taking the step of offering all National Health Service nurses a free season ticket for next season.

A statement from the board of directors said their No 1 objective was to ‘safeguard the football club from extinction’ and added: “We are now fighting to keep our club afloat and need to very much stand together. It will continue to be as hard a fight as we have ever had, but we are determined to make sure the football club comes through – it is part of our community.

“Like every business we will seek to contact our creditors large and small to see if we can reduce overheads and expenses as much as possible. We will explore all opportunities through either government departments, our bank and the league to access whatever assistance is possible.

“We don’t have the comfort of sitting on several months cash flow so we need to take the above action quickly and look at other options available to us and this is where you can help and we will very soon launch an initiative called ‘Stand Together.”