ALMOST a year ago to the day, Worcester City fans gathered at the city’s Whitehouse Hotel to view plans for a new stadium at Nunnery Way.

Tonight, those same fans will be ushered into the Graeme Hick Pavilion at Worcestershire County Cricket Club to see the latest proposals for a new home.

Down from costing £5million to £2m in that 12-month period, the scheme is the latest chapter in the long-running saga surrounding the Blue Square South club and potentially the most crucial.

Time, not to mention money, is running out fast for City in their bid to leave St George’s Lane and this could be the last-chance saloon.

The meeting could also be one of the most explosive in recent times. The powers-that-be should be expecting a rough ride.

This is the single most important issue the club have faced in the past 100 years and the fans are not about to roll over and give their blessing to any proposal until they believe it best serves the club’s future.

Time and again, they have been presented with new schemes and none have come to fruition.

The strength of supporters’ feelings should not be underestimated. Emotions have run high at fans’ forums and also prompted a petition to oust former chairman Dave Boddy.

In principle, most supporters are in favour of the club moving away from St George’s Lane in order to safeguard their future.

If they head to Nunnery Way, the location is likely to be acceptable to the majority. But — and this is key — only if the club can flourish financially once the move has happened.

Selling the Lane for £3.5m, paying off the bank debt and building a new three-sided ground in the region of £2m will leave them with nothing in the pot.

In fact, according to figures to be presented at the meeting, it will only reduce the debt by half unless they can generate money through grants and such like.

What is the point of relocating to a new ground, regardless of location or size, if the club are in the same financial position?

The club cannot support themselves at the Lane and the balance sheets have proven that.

They haven’t been able to do so for a decade, so why should that trend suddenly be bucked just because the view has changed?

City have admitted it will take enabling development to bridge the gap but the economic climate has left that in major jeopardy.

Money for the future has to come from somewhere and the board will need to show they have the answers to these questions.

Vice-chairman Jim Panter said: “What we are trying to do is focus the meeting on giving the fans the solution the board think is workable and get their buy-in.

“We are trying to get a feel of the support the proposals would get from the shareholders.”

That mood could be interesting to say the least.