When Newbury Football Club returned to Faraday Road on November 9, many saw it as the end of a six-year nightmare.
But the club’s exile now seems set to continue.
The Thames Valley Premier League has refused to approve the facilities, declaring the changing rooms to be too small and not up to league standards.
The club immediately appealed the decision, but the league has reaffirmed its stance.
The ground, rumoured to have cost around £400,000 of public money, is now unable to be used for league football by the town’s top club.
This means that West Berkshire Council will now have to alter the facilities just two weeks after they were opened.
In response to this news first being reported, West Berkshire Council issued the following statement:
“Earlier this month we were delighted to welcome Newbury FC back to play their first game at Faraday Road after several years. We’ve worked hard over the past 18 months to get things in place for the community and organised football.
“We have been made aware by the Football League that the changing rooms need to be slightly larger for Newbury FC to play there in the league and we are making adjustments to the internal layouts to increase their size which will resolve this issue. It is our intention to have these changes made by 7th December and the team playing there again.
“The Newbury Community Football Group (NCFG) and Newbury FC remain delighted with the new facilities and the Ground and look forward to their first League match back at the Ground.”
Councillors Billy Drummond, Nigel Foot and Vaughan Miller stood alongside Newbury MP Lee Dillon and mayor Andy Moore at the ground’s reopening.
Mr Moore declared it “a great delight”, explaining how “it’s been part of our strategy since 2019 to return football to this pitch”.
Mr Dillon was keen to point out how “when councils listen to what communities need, we can deliver what you want”.
But now all eyes are back on councillors, with Newbury FC forced to return to Henwick Playing Fields in Thatcham on Saturday.
The news comes at what seems to be a difficult time for the council, with more than £1.2m of cuts being planned, including fewer roads being gritted over winter and turning off street lights.
The club was originally exiled in 2018, before a suspected arson attack saw the clubhouse burned to the ground in 2021.
A key pledge from Liberal Democrat councillors in recent years involved a complete refurbishment of the ground.
The pitch itself was reconditioned by professionals, before changing rooms for players and officials were purchased, installed and plumbed in.
A stand was also purchased, delivered just in time for the official reopening earlier this month.
All at Newbury FC were delighted to finally return to Faraday Road, but their homecoming now seems to have been short lived.