DEVIZES Town Football Club has been suspended by the Wiltshire FA and now the club which has been in existence since 1888 has an uncertain future.

Devizes is not Manchester United and tens of thousands of people do not flock to the Nursteed Road ground to see the team play.

But the club is very much part of the town and has been since 1888.

For the past few years the club has been run not by people from the town as it had been for the previous hundred years or more but by those from outside.

Trowbridge is not much more than ten miles from Devizes but the distance might as well have been a hundred miles.

It was felt that chairman Chris Belcher and others who had been around when Trowbridge Football club was wound up were not necessarily the right people to be at the helm in Devizes.

But Mr Belcher did not have a lot of opposition for the job and at first it seemed his heart was in the right place.

But now it has emerged that the move to make the club a limited company may not have followed the rules.

Many felt it strange at the time that letters were not sent out to all the members telling them of the planned changes.

There was also disquiet when mounting debts emerged and all the decision were being taken by a small band led by Mr Belcher.

The club now has only a few weeks to put its house in order or face not being allowed to affiliate to the FA for the new season.

But there are a growing number of people in the town who still believe in the club and think it should be allowed to survive. These people must have our backing. The club has enjoyed a number of great moments.

It is not very long ago that it brought national fame to the town by going the whole season undefeated.

Lots of people have worked long and hard for many years for no gain to make it a club to be proud of.

Hundreds of youngsters play their football at Nursteed Road. The club and the ground need to remain for the next generation of young footballers.

Lets show support by going to tonight's game and backing those who have the club's best interests at heart.