THE company which owns Witney Community Stadium says Witney Town are no longer allowed to play at the ground because they were unable to pay the rent.

The football club was last week given its marching orders from the Downs Road ground when the landlords, On the Edge Ltd, said that they would not be issuing a lease to the Uhlsport Hellenic League club.

In a report last week, the Witney Gazette incorrectly stated that the ground was owned by Witney Golf Club Limited, the owner of the neighbouring Witney Lakes Resort.

The senior shareholder of On the Edge Ltd, Chris Gurney, said: “We would like it to be known that we are a great supporter of the club. We just quietly get on with it.

"It is very wrong to be imputed as the bad boys. We are a major, if not the only, sponsor of the club.

“When we bought the ground, we gave it back to the club free of charge. We paid the rates and ground rent and never received a penny and we never asked for it.

"But when the ground was used for other activities, like car boot sales, we asked for some rent. We gave it to them for football use, not to run commercial activities.”