Kent have urged supporters not to worry about the club's future, despite announcing financial losses of more than £800,000 for 2009.

Chairman George Kennedy told BBC Radio Kent the figures look worse than they actually are.

"The non-recurring element of that is almost £500,000 so if you took it in proper accounting terms we could have cut the loss by half," he said.

"It suggests that going forward we'll have a much better year this year."

He added: "We've also announced in the report that we've signed a development contract - that's the building of houses, hotels etc and the refurbishment of the site.

"I think our supporters should be certainly concerned that we've shown this sort of loss but the most important thing is we're doing something about it."

Former Daily Mail cricket writer Brian Scovell, who lives in Kent, agrees that fans should not panic.

"I don't think it's a disaster," he told BBC Radio Kent. "It's not going to be a Portsmouth or one of these football clubs who are about to collapse.

"In the last 10 years, 14 of the 18 county grounds have entered very expensive redevelopment, including Kent.

"It's like the weather, one or two good years and you start planning rather excessively. Suddenly a tsunami comes along - like a very steep recession - and suddenly everyone gets knocked over. I think that's what's happened with Kent."

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