Pikes' sponsor pulls out of club

Pickering Town have started to feel the effects of the credit crunch following the withdrawal of some club sponsors.

The Pikes' budgets are being affected as they undertake ground improvements to achieve the Unibond League's ground grading standard.

Chairman Tony Dunning told BBC Radio York: "It's a blow. It's not going to kill us off or anything like that.

"But it's quite a substantial amount of money and they decided they can no longer support us this year."

Dunning added: "Whether they decide to come back another year is another matter but unfortunately we've lost the money this year.

"We do board sponsoring around the ground but one or two have said they can no longer afford to do it this year.

"It's just a little roll-on effect of one thing leading to another and all of a sudden the budget is a little bit out of proportion."

We'll have the ground ready but whether we're in a position to go up is debatable

Pickering chairman Tony Dunning

However Dunning was staying positive and he said the Northern Counties East League club are still in a good position.

"We've got to work a bit harder and find some new people but overall we do really well in a place like Pickering.

"We're in good shape but we need to attract more sponsors and more money really."

Dunning said he is hopeful that they will get their Mill Lane ground up to Unibond League standards after what he described as a positive meeting with Football Association officials.

"They're all underway the things that we're getting done and hopefully we'll get them done by the deadline, the end of this month," he said.

"We'll have the ground ready but whether we're in a position to go up is debatable.

"We've lost our last two home matches but that's football. We've still got 12 games to play, plus two cup ties, so we've got a lot to play for this year."