SIR - With reference to Mr G Budd's recent letter querying the need for a new ground when the club can't attract attendances of a thousand, I thought the topic had received enough coverage for everyone to know the position.

Worcester City FC can be likened to a Third World African nation - exceedingly poor, but proud of their history and heritage, burdened with a debt inherited from previous regimes, not the fault of the present regime, but which has to be serviced nevertheless, and anxious to shake off the debt and move forward to being more successful.

That's where the analogy ends. Third World nations can rely on the next G8 summit to write off their debt or postpone debt re-payments. Not so with the football club, which has to service the debt from income, which is what makes it poor.

It is forced, therefore, to turn its one appreciating asset - the area occupied by the ground. By modern standards it is in entirely the wrong place for a football ground, but it is suitable for housing. This would turn it into capital, from which it could re-finance a new ground and free itself from debt.

Incidentally, the last two home games have attracted more than a thousand, and I have little doubt that if they were to make it into the Conference and become consistently successful, they could easily achieve average gates of 2,500. Even with the current paltry attendances, City remains among the top 30 best-supported non-league clubs in the country.

TIM MUNSLOW,

Lower Broadheath.