ON the opening day of the football season we voiced fears for the survival of Worcester City FC.

We raised a number of questions about the club’s future. Not least among these was the value of the club’s St George’s Lane ground following objections from the city council to the number of homes planned on the site by developers Careys New Homes. We queried how much Careys would be willing to pay for the Lane given the current economic climate and the reduced number of properties likely to be built on the site.

Now we have some idea – and it looks as though the original sale price of more than £7 million will be reduced to an offer of something closer to £4 million.

This is not surprising given the changes needed to the planning application and the huge falls in land prices over the last two years. As the club says, it is a financial double whammy.

The sale of the Lane remains key to the football club’s plans to move to a new ground at Nunnery Way – plans of which we remain broadly supportive.

Remaining at the Lane is not an option given the money owed to the club’s bankers – most of which was secured on the back of the saleable potential of the ground – and the financially restrictive renovations that would be needed to meet health and safety laws.

Club directors must now decide whether to accept a lower price from Careys that could leave it short of cash for building a replacement stadium or seek a new developer. The second option could set plans for a move back years. Other proposals have been mooted, including merging or sharing with another football club. We are not sure how realistic such ideas are.

We are sure that going into administration – suggested by some as a way of eventually resurrecting the club – would be disastrous.

Quite where the club goes from here is unclear. But a clear way forward is needed sooner rather than later.