MANAGER Carl Heeley says he would prefer for Worcester City to ground-share at Aggborough next season but insists any deal has to be financially viable for the club.

The Conference North outfit must choose between current landlords Kidderminster Harriers, Evesham United and Bromsgrove Sporting.

City are mulling over offers from all three clubs and must inform the Football Association of their decision before the end of this month.

Heeley said: “From a footballing point of view and being totally selfish about it, Harriers is the best arena.

“There have been frustrations with the pitch but there’s plans to correct that so, of course, from a football point of view I’d like to stay at Kidderminster.

“However, I understand the logic in the costs. The long-term survival of the club is crucial, which has to override the emotive side of playing at a certain stadium. It has to be cost-effective and it has to work for us financially.”

Harriers have tabled a further two-year deal but it is believed to be more expensive than Worcester have paid for the past two seasons.

Evesham’s Jubilee Stadium and Sporting’s Victoria Ground are also in the mix with club officials having visited both grounds.

Meanwhile, Heeley believes City would have been favourites to reach the play-offs had George Williams and Graham Hutchison not left the club or players, including Tyler Weir, been lost to injury. Worcester, who host Guiseley tomorrow (7.45pm), are nine points adrift of the top five after Saturday’s 3-3 draw at Chorley.

Heeley explained: “We’ve had a great cup run this season, which put a lot of players in the shop window, and lost some good players. We had a little downfall and couldn’t quite get our form back but we’ve picked it up again.

“I think if we hadn’t had the injuries and could have kept the squad together from the cup run, then we would have been pretty much certs for the play-offs.

“But we’re competitive, in a decent situation and will just try to finish up with as many points as we can. The aim given to us when we left St George’s Lane was to keep the club in the Conference North.

“Maybe the cup run got us ahead of ourselves but we’re more than going to achieve that aim and that’s an improvement on last season because we struggled.”

The FA have handed Shabir Khan a three-match ban after he was sent off against Stockport County last month for reacting to a foul by body-slamming his opponent.