Worcester board see off challenge

Hampson (right) is calling for unity as the club moves forward

Worcester City's board of directors held off a challenge from a group of disenchanted shareholders at the club's Annual General Meeting.

Club chairman Anthony Hampson told BBC Hereford and Worcester they should now try and work together.

"We did have a very difficult meeting to start with, but I think it ended positively," he said.

"It's good news for the new stadium project at Nunnery Way, while hopefully we can now talk more about football."

Hampson accepted that the meeting was among the most important in the club's history as the progressing of the proposed new Nunnery Way stadium was largely dependent on its outcome.

He felt the shareholders' backing for the current administration was a sign that they are firmly behind the scheme.

"We need to build the team and the support for the club, and we also need to move to the new stadium," he said.

"I think we have had a very thorough mandate to do that."

Hampson said that the AGM was only the first of a number of key battles that have to be won if City are to turn around their recent troubled financial fortunes.

His next appointment will be with the club's bankers with whom the board is due to meet in the coming week, but he remains upbeat about this prospect.

"We've got to go through the forecasts for the next three to four months and we need to keep them on board," he said.

"They have been very supportive up to now and as long as they can get a fairly good picture of our plans, then I'm sure that with their support the club will move forward."

Nobody from the Shareholders Action Group was available for comment.