The fear of being relegated out of the Football League has seen Cheltenham Town agree to an extension of their ground share deal with Gloucester City.
Robins' chief Paul Baker told the press: ‘This was a very difficult decision for us. In an ideal world we would not have agreed to extend the arrangement due to the impact it is having on the pitch which frankly looks well past its sell by date when compared to the fantastic award winning playing surfaces of the past.
But we are not in an ideal world, Gloucester City need to have an arrangement in place for next season by the 31st March, if we were assured of our Football League status by now it is highly unlikely that the arrangement would have been extended, be we are not and as we all know the financial consequences of relegation are dramatic, we therefore have to maximise all our revenue streams to cater for the worst case scenario.'
The new deal includes an increase in rent on the current deal, and limits Gloucester to only one pre-season game on the Whaddon Road pitch.