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Newspaper offers footy fans a freebie

Dropping attendances caused by a football club’s enforced temporary relocation have prompted a weekly to offer footy fans a freebie.

Worksop Town FC has been playing all of its home games 25 miles away this season, in Hucknall, after being locked out of its previous ground after a dispute with the former chairman.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, attendances at “home” games have fallen dramatically so the Worksop Guardian is offering every reader free admittance to the last home game of the season.

The Tigers are due to play Witton Albion next Saturday with the Guardian hopeful of boosting the crowd numbers by saving each fan up to £8 in ticket prices.

Sports editor Graham Smyth said: “As yet we don’t know the reason why they moved other than it’s a very complicated and litigious fallout with the former chairman.

“Attendance has fallen as expected so we thought it would be a good idea for the last home game to try to get as many people to the game as possible.

“We’re running a voucher in the Guardian next Friday which admits one person and the club have agreed to open their gates.”

Worksop Town play in the Unibond Premier League and had an average attendance last season of 300 fans per game which has dropped to below 200 this season.

Graham said he hoped the Guardian’s promotion would boost the crowd by around an extra 200 people.

There has been no announcement as yet about what will happen to Worksop Town next season but the Guardian and the club’s fans are hopeful of planning permission on a new development in the town which would include a football ground.