Photography by Carl Ennis
DENTON Town Football Club has been left counting the cost after burst pipes flooded much of their dressing rooms.
Ceilings have been torn down, walls will need replastering and doors must be replaced after no fewer than four leaks at Whittles Park.
It is likely a partial electrical rewire will be needed.
Freezing weather followed by a thaw resulted in gallons of water cascading through the fixtures and fittings and about three inches of water on the floor.
A large repair bill is likely and it is thought home matches will have to be switched for at least the whole of January.
That will leave the Cheshire League side out of pocket, at a time when the first team is chasing promotion from League One.
“It’s not good,” said Denton Town secretary Lee Paul.
“We had a burst, in quite a few places. It’s affected the away changing rooms, our washroom, toilets, referee’s room and the hallway.
“It’s also affected one of the walls in the lounge but we’ve been quite lucky in that area really.
“The only room we’re not really sure about is the home changing room but we think it’s been running through an area where the kit is.
“We thought there were three bursts, they were plugged and repaired and we put the water back on – then found there was a fourth!”
All the leaks are now repaired, now it is a case of waiting for the rooms to dry out before an electrician looks at them.
The belief is it will require substantial work in terms of rewiring as Lee added: “That would mean chiselling out walls again.
“We’ve got dehumidifiers and the gents’ toilets isn’t far off being dry. I pulled the away dressing room ceiling down because of the extra leak we discovered.
“The pipes had frozen because of the cold spell we had, then when it warmed up, they burst.”
Denton Town have had help from local tradesmen donating their time to at least help solve the main problem.
But the costs are expected to spiral and the switching of matches – the first team’s first game of 2023 against Knutsford on January 7 has already been swapped – means no income.
“We’ve not had a proper cost yet,” Lee told The Correspondent. “The insurance company wants a report from the plumber first – and there’s no real timescale.
“Match days are a massive source of our income. Our most profit comes from people buying tea and coffee at game – we stand to lose a few hundred pounds a game, at least.
“We’ve also had to switch matches involving our veterans’ team, so we lose out on that too.
“I’ve also got to write a report detailing the damage – we now can’t shut four of the doors in the building because they’ve bowed with all the water running.
“I’ve contacted the league and said, ‘I don’t think we’ll be playing at home for the whole of January.’ We’ve got to wait for everything to dry out before an electrician can come in.
“In pictures from when it was first discovered, it looks like there are two or three inches of water on the floor.
“But we’ve actually been quite fortunate in that that water hasn’t gone through to the clubhouse.”
Denton Town have been vocal in their desire to move to the site of the former Two Trees High School in Haughton Green.
And Lee believes this misfortune shows why they should, saying: “This is why we really need to get on there. If we do, we’d have a 4G pitch and could also rent that out.
“If a football team wants to move to a 4G pitch now, it’s very difficult to find one that’s available.”