Dorking FC play in the Combined Counties League Premier Division

Mole Valley council said the current owners of Dorking FC, in Surrey, were not properly maintaining the football facilities at Meadowbank.

The club argued it recently carried out �10,000 of health and safety-related repairs and was a "protected tenant".

A court hearing is now scheduled for February or March next year.

The council, which acts as landlord for Meadowbank, located in Mill Lane, Dorking, claimed the clubhouse and grounds were in a "poor state of repair".

Chief executive Darren Mepham said: "They haven't really come up with a business plan [of] how they would do repairs - how they would resource it.

"We've got to a point where we've got no choice really but to take it through the courts."

New lease

The council went to Reigate County Court on Friday as it began attempts to "remove the tenant".

But the football club insisted the facilities were not in a poor state of repair, adding that the council had recently said it was "pleased" with health and safety works carried out.

Vice-chairman Ray Collins said negotiations for a new 25-year lease were on hold from 2001 to 2006.

"No sensible organisation would have at that time invested money into a repair programme," a statement added.

It said it was "entitled to a new long-term lease", but instead attempts were being made to "kill off" the club.