INTERIM chairman Mick Carter is not convinced that taking a year out of football and then dropping down a league would be the long-term cure for AFC Totton’s financial ills, writes WENDY GEE.

With the Southern Premier Division club suffocating under the weight of a £185,000 debt, one solution being considered is to cease playing all together in 2013/14 and hire out their Testwood Stadium facilities to pay off some of the money owed.

Totton would then re-enter football at a lower level in 2014/15, probably back in the Sydenhams Wessex League. Millstone But Carter, who stepped in as interim chairman earlier this month following the resignation of Paul Wallace, said that whatever league Totton play in, the cost of running the stadium would remain a millstone round their necks.

“The problem with the Wessex League is that you’ve still got overheads,” he said.

“You wouldn’t have coach bills to pay and you wouldn’t spend as much on players.

“But the overheads of running the stadium would still be there.

“Personally I wouldn’t want to take a step back two divisions to try and go forward again.”

Testwood Park Limited, a company headed by neighbouring Totton & Eling FC’s chairman Ed Holmes, will propose to a full members’ meeting next Wednesday that they take on AFC Totton’s debt in exchange for buying the stadium for a nominal fee of £1.

Should that be rejected, the club would almost certainly be forced to withdraw from the Southern League – and possibly go under completely – unless a last-ditch buyer or benefactor comes forward.

Carter said: “The entry money to the Southern League has been paid but, sooner or later, they are going ask us if we can continue or not.

“The league secretary, Jason Mills, has phoned to ask what’s happening and he outlined the fact that unless last season’s player wages are paid, we can only sign on so many players. He didn’t mention a ‘transfer embargo’ in so many words, but he hinted that way.”

Alf Peckham, one of four trustees in charge of protecting the club’s assets, ruled out any possibility of Totton rejoining the Sydenhams League this coming season. “They can’t do it because they’ve been included in the Southern League constitution and the Sydenhams League have finalised their own constitution,” he said.

“The only possibility Totton have got of playing football next season is in the Southern League, which they can’t afford, or maybe applying for the Hampshire League or lower.

“The other alternative is go one season without a team and at least try and keep the social club going.

“They could hire out the club lounges for functions to gradually pay off debts.

“They’ve still got the under-18 and under-16 teams, which are run separately to the first team, and could even hire out the pitch to another club for a year at a reasonable price to keep it ticking over.”

When contacted by The Daily Echo for an update on Totton’s situation, Southern League secretary Jason Mills said: “At the present moment in time I am unable to make any official comments whilst we have dialogue with the club on these matters.”