IT'S dismal news, indeed - and not only for ticket-buying, shirt-wearing fans - that Worcester City officials believe they've reached a dead end in their efforts to move the club from St George's Lane to a £5m, 6,000-seat stadium in Nunnery Way.

The club needs the right enabling development to sit alongside, and help pay for the new ground.

But, after more than three years of negotiations, it hasn't found anything that will either satisfy city councillors or survive the threat of being called in by Environment Secretary John Prescott.

After plans for retail outlets on the site were picked apart at Guildhall, last August, we asked where that left the club and its ambition.

We called for a partnership between club and council to discuss ideas around the drawing board for the good of the community.

Club officials went away and reworked their scheme but, having done that, though, they find themselves no nearer success.

Now the club's chairman, Dr Michael Sorensen, believes it won't happen without a greater political will from within the city council.

He says the club might have to look at developing St George's Lane. But he, we and everyone else knows what a waste of time, money and opportunity that would be.

So let's ask the question once more - where does that leave them?

For a start, we've seen and heard enough behind the scenes to believe that the club should not, and must not, give up. Its new plans are imaginative. They provide the landmark development which, alongside the M5, will speak volumes for the Faithful City and its premier soccer club.

We believe that there are crucial figures within the city who support the scheme. But, we fear, there are others who are standing in its way.

To them, we say this isn't just about football, it's about the community. Let's see belief and support.

Let's also say this again. Somehow, sometime, the stadium must be built. No one should be satisfied until it is.