Demolition flattens football club mood
An amateur football team was left out in the cold on match day when their changing rooms were mistakenly flattened by a demolition crew.
Bemused Ardsley Celtic members say the massive blunder has put the club's future in jeopardy as they now face eviction from their league due to lack of facilities.
For over a century, the club has been based on land behind the White Horse pub in East Ardsley, near Leeds, and they spent £8,000 on facilities after gaining promotion to the premier division of the West Riding County Amateur Football League.
Last year the pub was sold to developers who decided to flatten the building and hope to sell the land for housing.
But when demolition experts were called they also reduced the changing rooms to rubble, unaware that there was an agreement for them to remain in use.
The club now faces a bill of about £20,000 to pay for portable buildings, or faces being thrown out of their league.
Celtic president Arthur Aveyard said: "I couldn't believe it when I got a phone call asking me to come to the club urgently. When I got there, there was nothing left. To lose all that is unbelievable."
Phillip Metcalf, the director of Panorama Living, the company that bought the pub, said: "Unbeknown to us there was a gentleman's agreement which had been struck up between the club and a previous landlord allowing the pub to be used for changing rooms.
"We were unaware of the situation until demolition work started but by that time it was too late."
He said the company had been in touch with the club to try to find a value for the items in the changing rooms.
He added: "We would like to get something sorted for the club. We realize the importance of football at grass roots level."
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