Stourbridge given positive ground update by the FA and league

The Glassboys were faced with being homeless next season after they were ordered to take down a number of stands and floodlights close to banking surrounding their home of 137 years.

But in an update on X this afternoon, the club have confirmed the Southern League and the Football Association will allow them to carry on playing at the ground, despite the impending changes.

The short statement read:  " Following a meeting between the FA  and the Southern League, we have received dispensation that confirms we will be allowed to play at the WMAG next season! 

"We hope this will give us the required time to complete the works required to secure the future of the ground."

It was announced at the end of March that Easter Monday's clash with Bromsgrove Sporting - which the Glassboys would go on to win 4-2 in front of 1,282 spectators - would be the last in which the War Memorial Ground would exist in 'its present guise'.

The club - which will celebrate 150 years of football next year - forecasted an "extremely costly" and "stressful" period ahead as they decided what to do with the ground where they have played since 1888 and where superstar Jude Bellingham played as a youngster.

Weeks of negotiations with landlords Dudley Council and surveyors came to the conclusion that floodlights and stands are situated too closely to the banks which surround the War Memorial Ground and are in danger of subsidence.

Houses are being built behind the popular Shed End stand and it is thought this is one of the stands at risk. A standing enclosure next to it was already off-limit to spectators at home games.  

Being allowed to continue playing at home gives them an opportunity to secure funding and undertake the works needed to extend their stay at the ground.