THE North West Counties League has reassured Ramsbottom United that their place in the league is secure - despite doubts as to whether they have a legally-binding lease for their Riverside ground.

Ramsbottom Cricket Club own the Riverside and allow the football club to play there.

But cricket club chairman Neil Howarth believes that their lease on the ground is not legally binding.

The football club's chairman Harry Williams argued that an agreement that was signed in 1998 did constitute a lease.

But former secretary John Maher said the agreement was never looked at by a solicitor.

Ramsbottom have received a number of grants over the past few years from the Football Foundation even though the Foundation does not normally award grants to clubs without their own ground or a long-term lease.

Howarth today moved to dispel fears that the cricket club would ever try to evict the football club from the ground, whether they have alease or not.

"There is an agreement in place and it has been in place for six years. It does not constitute a legal lease but we are looking to firm up the situation in the near future," he said.

"We have appointed a solicitor to look at the existing agreement and then we will move forward in a way that is agreeable to both parties.

"There is a massive amount of goodwill between both the cricket and football clubs.

"Harry is a valued member of the cricket club committee, he has been on the committee for 30 years and there is no way that (selling the land) could happen."

Simon Taylor, press officer at the Football Foundation, said he did not know whether Ramsbottom had a lease for their ground.

He said: "We would normally ask for a club to own their ground or have a long-term lease on the land.

"If we were to look into it and it transpired that Ramsbottom did not have a lease we would have to sit down with the club and seek a solution."

The club has been rocked in the last month by the resignation of three of the backroom staff and the manager, Mike Kelly.

Secretary Maher, groundsman Roger Davies - who is also a member at the cricket club - and commercial manager Graham Dobson resigned at the beginning of October after a fall-out with the chairman.

Maher said he was trying to get the chairman to make the club 'more transparent' when he was told his services were no longer required.

He said he only found out the club had no proper lease days before he resigned - and that was not the reason behind his decision to quit.

"It never crossed my mind that there was no lease for two reasons," he said. "One, that the club was in the North West Counties League, and two, we had been given grants by the Football Foundation.

"But the Sunday before I resigned I found that the 'lease' I had seen was not drawn up by a solicitor, it was just an agreement between Harry and the cricket club.

"Whether the lease is legally binding anyway, I don't know, but my fear is that the cricket club could come along and bolt the doors at any time.

"I would like to know that after seven years in the North West Counties the future of the club is assured."

Chairman Williams denied there was no lease for the ground, saying: "There is no problem with the lease. We have had a written lease since 1998."

Ramsbottom have been in the North West Counties league since 1995 and league secretary Geoff Wilkinson said the agreement was enough to satisfy the league and its rules.

"We have on file the fact that Ramsbottom have permission from the cricket club to play on their ground.

"That is enough. You can't just throw sports clubs off their grounds. There are such things as tenant's rights."