FC CLACTON co-owner Stephen Andrews says “very positive” talks have taken place regarding the club gaining its own all-weather pitch.

The Seasiders see such a resource as “the answer to their problems”, making it possible to train and stage matches regardless of the conditions.

At the moment their grass pitch suffers whenever there is wet weather.

A succession of matches have already been postponed this season – costing the club money as they miss out on gate receipts and bar takings – and they have only been able to host one home game since October.

Andrews says an all-weather pitch would solve that problem – but would cost in the region of £600,000.

However, while that may appear an eye-watering figure, he says encouraging initial discussions have taken place with a team from Essex County Council.

“The stumbling block, as always, is money and we’ve been working with the Essex FA for around five years now, without getting any closer to a way forward,” said Andrews, who runs the club in tandem with chairman David Ballard.

“Roughly, it would cost £600,000 for such a facility and the Football Foundation may fund half, due to our status and standing.

“But we need to find the shortfall and that’s out of our reach.

“However, we’ve just been put in touch with a team at Essex County Council.

“Initial discussions with them are very positive, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed but not get too carried away as we’ve had many false dawns already.”

Clacton’s most recent first-team postponement at home was on January 3, when they had been due to host Mildenhall.

It was especially hard to take, with a bumper crowd in excess of 400 expected at the Rush Green Bowl.

The club had planned to turn the day into a sponsors and family event, including a big photo-shoot at 2pm.

But their time and effort went to waste when heavy rain overnight on Friday and into Saturday led to the match being called off around 10am.

“There’s a simple answer to all our problems and that’s an all-weather pitch to the side of our grass pitch,” said Andrews, who faced more disappointment last weekend when all home matches had to be postponed because of the soggy conditions.

Those games were the reserves’ match at home to Bradfield Rovers Reserves and seven youth matches on Sunday.

“All our teams and others would be able to use it to train every week,” added Andrews.

“We could also run soccer schools and all the other good community work we want to do, plus matches can be played on there at weekends if the grass pitch is unplayable.

“We’d have increased revenues to solve all our financial problems and, most importantly, we’d never have a game called off again, be it senior matches on a Saturday or youth games on a Sunday.

“Last season, across the whole club, we had over 100 home games called off and so far this season, including last weekend, we’re already up to 32.

“It’s crippling us financially, but it’s not just about the money.

“So much work goes on behind the scenes preparing for games and it’s so disheartening to keep having to waste all that work when games are called off.”

Meanwhile, Clacton have completed the signing of defender Ryan Lowton, on loan from HEYBRIDGE SWIFTS.

The centre-half has previously played in the South-West Peninsula League, for the likes of Elburton Villa, Taverstock AFC and Liskeard Athletic.