A FOOTBALL club brought to its knees by an invasion of travellers now faces being driven off the field by a park-and-ride scheme.

The British Transport Commission club struggled to stay in business for 13 weeks as travellers camped next door to their Stoneham Lane playing fields.

Clubhouse windows were smashed, broken glass was strewn over pitches and young footballers were terrorised during matches.

At the peak of the crisis thousands of pounds of bar takings were lost when motoring giant Fords decided to hold their centenary bash at a different location.

But now, as the club regains confidence with the help of several new sponsors, it has another fight on its hands.

Southampton City Council has earmarked their pitches as a possible site for a park-and-ride scheme.

President Damon Brown has vowed the club will make every effort possible to stop the project going ahead.

He said: "There's a big black cloud looming over the club.

"We can always survive the travellers by hook or by crook, but now there's a new problem."

Mr Brown said the club plans to raise objections during the city Local Plan Review which starts this November 25.

He said they could not be evicted unless the council found alternative grounds for them to play football.

He said: "If they move us off they have to give us like-for-like pitches within three months. But they might move us on to the pitches across Stoneham Lane where there's no clubhouse."

Terry Fitzpatrick, secretary of the British Transport Commission club, said: "They've promised not to kick us off without finding somewhere for us but I hope they come to their senses and realise what we want to do."

He said the club had always undertaken maintenance of the pitches free of charge but it was impossible to introduce permanent improvements without a long-term lease.

A spokesman for Southampton City Council confirmed the playing fields had been earmarked for possible use as a park-and-ride scheme.

No decisions would be made until after the second hearing of the Local Plan Review starting this November 25, she said.

The outcome will be published in late 2004.