Former EFL club forced to relocate to new town after being warned team could ‘cease to exist as we know it’

A FORMER EFL club have been forced to relocate after a warning that the team could stop existing.

AFC Rushden & Diamonds will leave their current home, Hayden Road, at the end of the season.

AFC Rushden & Diamonds are moving ground

A vote was taken with part-owners and an overwhelming majority opted to send the Northamptonshire outfit to the Dog and Duck Football Ground.

The club used to play at the stadium and will now groundshare it with Wellingborough FC.

A turnout of 69 per cent of part-owners took part in the vote, with 89 per cent choosing the move.

Chairman Rob Usher released a statement in which he admitted that if the Diamonds had continued as it was it may “no longer exist”.

It said: “For many years our Club hasn’t been operating within its means and whilst we are on course to make a profit this year, the figures show that if we continue as we are, AFC Rushden & Diamonds as we have come to know it will no longer exist.

“We can stay where we are, cut our cloth accordingly and carry on, but we’ll become something our supporters don’t recognise and for us as the current custodians of this Club.

“That’s not something we’re going to sit by and let happen.

“Over the last 18 months since assuming our positions in November 2022, we have had to make drastic changes, easy decisions and tough decisions, to ensure that the Club survived but whilst cutting costs across all areas of the business to ultimately ensure sustainability.

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“The one area we have never really been able to impact positively is the groundshare agreement at Hayden Road.

“It’s the one area of the business where costs have actually increased since we took charge.

“This dictated that we need to look at alternative options and after very positive conversations with Wellingborough Town’s representatives over the last few months, we were able to table this move to Part Owners.

“As a Board, we are pleased with the outcome of the vote.”

The club played at the Dog and Duck from 2012 to 2017 but had to move after a clause was invoked by landlord Alper Ozdogan.

The Diamonds are currently 19th in the Northern Premier League – Midlands Division.

The club is on equal points with 18th-placed Rugby Town but are at threat of relegation.

The club was formerly known as Rushden & Diamonds and reached as high as Division Two in 2003.

It was relegated back to Division Three in the 2003/04 season before being dumped back to the Conference League in 2006.

In 2011, the club was then expelled from the Conference League due to its unstable financial position, which meant there was no guarantee that it would finish the season.

AFC Rushden & Diamonds was formed as a result of being a Phoenix club.