The wait is almost over for Ashford United as they close in on a return to Homelands.

United’s £500,000 replacement 3G pitch is almost ready for action after a two-month delay.

It’s been a challenging time for the club who said they had to find the money for the project themselves after council funding fell through, much to the frustration of owner Don Crosbie.

Ashford Borough Council, however, have said they never promised funding.

Fans have been making 60-mile round trips to Chatham for home games while the club have been losing out on thousands in matchday income.

“Our biggest problem was the council had offered to pay for the pitch and then it turned out they couldn’t do it, so we were late in issuing the contract for the work,” said Crosbie.

“We were then left to pay for it ourselves, which we were a bit miffed about.

“Obviously we’ve done it but the problem was all the pitch builders - and there’s not many of them - were already booked up so we had to wait.

“We got a slot in July but, of course, it rained every day so that put everyone back another month, so that’s why we were delayed.

“The council offered us a loan but we weren’t keen on that.

“What’s the point in paying interest to someone else?

“We might as well fund it ourselves.

“We were very upset but we just did our own thing, which is what you end up doing, isn’t it?

“It’s been a couple of months of grief and hard work but we got there in the end.

“We’re there now and in another couple of weeks, we’ll forget about it.

“The pitch looks great. It’s worth waiting for. We went for the best.

“The boys, coming back next week, it will be marvellous for them.

“They’ll be absolutely ecstatic after being nomads for the last three months.

“Even finding training facilities hasn’t been easy.”

Crosbie says Ashford have used money set aside for two new training pitches to fund the main pitch.

They may end up limiting outside use to protect the surface after footing the bill themselves.

“The problem is there aren’t enough facilities in Ashford,” said Crosbie.

“The facilities for training finish about now because it’s too dark in the evenings, none of the faciltiies have got lights, 90% of them are grass, and when you get to the rainy season, so many games are called off.

“This is where Homelands comes into its own.

“We’ve helped five or six clubs in Ashford train and play games and I find it really annoying that we’ve allowed all the community to play their football and we don’t get the support from the local authority.

“If we’re paying for it, why should we let the community wear it out and then poor old Ashford United has to pick up the bill?

“We’ve got to look at it because we’ve spent a lot of money.

“I’ve paid for the first pitch to go down and now I’ve paid for the second pitch to go down and we’ve had no assistance and yet we’re a community club.

“We’ve got 1,500 kids and adults who use this facility every week, including the girls, ladies, men, boys, and six disability teams.

“It’s a massive facility for the community and we’ve had no assistance.

“We want to put another two training pitches in on the site and I’ve had to use that money to do the main pitch, so it puts us back again, which is so annoying.”

Ashford Borough Council have responded to the funding claims via deputy chief executive Ben Lockwood.

In a statement, he said: “I can confirm the club and the council had been in discussions over various avenues to support the replacement of the pitch, however at no time has the council taken a decision promising the club any money for the pitch.

“The council were in negotiations with the club over a potential loan, but this was subject to a due diligence process and the club being able to offer us adequate security and assurance that the loan could be repaid.

“Unfortunately, they were not able to provide the necessary assurances we required to protect taxpayer money and therefore the discussions on this matter ceased.

“We are therefore disappointed that this is not how the situation has been portrayed by Mr Crosbie.

“We were not approached for our position, so were not able to clarify the incorrect statements that were subsequently reported.”