Kettering Town are one step closer to survival but still have a long journey ahead of them according to majority shareholder Imraan Ladak.
The Poppies were given a reprieve today after the club “satisfied all the conditions placed on it” by the Southern League at an emergency board meeting.
It means they can continue to take part in the competition and have also had a transfer and registration embargo lifted.
Their league game with Barwell this weekend has been postponed but they now have little over a week to put together an entire team as well as attempt to overcome all their other off-field issues.
It is a not insignificant task they face but at least the club survives a little longer.
Ladak explained: “On Saturday I almost thought there was no more that could be done.
“There has been a lot of last-minute work to get us here.
“I’m obviously very happy where we are and that the club has a fighting chance.
“But there is still quite a path for us to navigate and this is only the first step.
“As the Southern League haven’t disclosed what all the criteria where I’m not sure it is right for me to.
“But the most urgent one from their perspective was with the players.
“The delay in the announcement (from 10.30am to 2pm) was just because they wanted to check something with one of the players but we were happy that everything had been sorted.
“The decision is a relief and it means we can now move on to the next stage.
“I’m not getting carried away with anything and nor should anyone else.
“There are promising signs but there is a lot to be done still.
“I think people know the scale of the task that is faced now.”
Among the many issues facing the club is finding a suitable ground to play in time for the scheduled home game with Redditch a week on Saturday.
With the electricity cut off at Nene Park it would seem a different venue is needed.
“We are now working on ensuring we can stage a game of football on November 10,” Ladak continued.
“The rules are that we are free to play anywhere we want for a period of 13 weeks before you have to have a ground-sharing agreement.
“In the short term I think it would be very difficult for us to stage a game at Nene Park.
“The electrical issues are quite complex and I’m led to believe there are only a few people in the country that can carry out the work that is needed.
“It probably can’t happen in that short time and possibly means we will need to look at alternatives.”
The greatest issue is perhaps who is going to fund the club’s future.
Ladak insists he wants to leave any involvement with Kettering Town behind him and has people ready to assume control – hopefully before the Redditch fixture.
But there are important decisions to be made and costs to be met.
“Hopefully they will be somebody else’s decisions.
“All I know is I don’t want to be involved in the football club.
“I have no intention of being involved so anyone who comes in will have to take over the running of the club.
“It will need two parties to solve it and I’m trying to bring them together.
“I don’t think either party can do it on their own but they can together.
“We are setting deadlines for every stage and the date we are working to for completion is November 9.
“If it is a couple of days earlier or a couple of days later that is fine.
“But that is the timescale we are looking at.
“There is still a lot of talking to be done and meetings to have over the weekend.”
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