Witney Town

WITNEY TOWN: THEY THINK IT'S ALL OVER - IT IS NOW
By Nick Farrant, from www.witneygazette.co.uk

Last Wednesday, the Premier Division outfit, one of Oxfordshire's oldest
football clubs, resigned from the Hellenic League and folded due to lack of
funds. Earlier this month, the cash-strapped club were evicted from the
Witney Community Stadium because they were unable to pay the rent. They had
hoped to ground-share with Carterton, but lack of funds meant they were
unable to sign a rental agreement. "I knew it was coming, so it wasn't
exactly a shock," said Donovan, who has been a supporter for about 20 years.
But it's still disappointing to see it happening."

But Donovan is optimistic the Oxfordshire outfit will one day re-emerge from
the ashes. "It's a massive shame and hopefully someone can resurrect it at
some stage in the future, but there seems to be a lack of interest from
people in the town to run it. Unfortunately, the stadium was not something
you could run with a small group of people, so it became an albatross around
our necks."

Former striker Sean McKeon added: "I'm devastated the club is no longer. It
is upsetting knowing the hard work people like Andy Lyne (former manager)
and Ady Bircher (ex-secretary) and the committee put in.

The loss of Witney Town was in huge contrast to the summer, when Justin
Merritt was made boss with a plan to get the club back in the Southern
League. However, in September last year Merritt resigned, followed by one of
his assistants, Eddie Denton. The following month, Stuart Pike replaced Tom
Amer as chairman to take over the helm at Carterton. In December, boss
Justin Lee, Pike and director of football Andy Lyne all resigned, with Chris
Hurley made boss. Donovan took over as chairman in January, but resigned
after a ground-share at Carterton was abandoned.

Founded in 1885, Witney Town folded in 2001, only to re-emerge the following
year when a group of fans formed Witney United. In 2011 the club reverted to
their original name, Witney Town, after it was re-formed as a registered
charity.

I remember several trips to Witney Town but I think they played at a different ground then.