A FOOTBALL Club's members are meeting for crisis talks tonight after officials announced it could fold.

Willington Association Football Club is facing closure less than a year after the community rallied around to save the clubhouse at the Hall Lane ground.

The future of the club, which has been at the heart of the town for almost 100 years, plunged into uncertainty after its annual meeting failed to elect either a chairman or vice-chairman.

Bob Nichols, who has been secretary since the 1984/85 season, said the club would almost certainly close if nobody came forward to fill the positions.

He said: "We have no chairman and vice-chairman and they are absolutely necessary to run a club.

"When we didn't fill those positions I wasn't keen to continue as football secretary. That means we have three major officials missing and that needs to be sorted out rather quickly.''

The club, which plays in the Albany Northern League Second Division, is steeped in history. It was operating in its present form in 1906 and has been in the Northern League since 1911.

It is also the home of several junior teams, including a thriving under-18s side that finished with three cups at the end of last season.

In 1997, the club looked certain to close following financial problems and the resignation of its chairman, but the community rallied to help the club survive.

Since then it has done well, according to Mr Nichols, but last year its future was threatened again after the clubhouse roof was found to be in urgent need of repair.

Members were left to find £5,000 for repair bills and it was the community that once again saved the day.

Mr Nichols said that if it was to survive for a third time, it would need more people to come forward to help with the day-to-day running of the club. As well as filling the main positions, it needed people for the committee.