The project reached its funding target still with 41 days left to run, a testament to the massive support this campaign has received from the Worthing community.

Local businesses, ex-players, and above all dedicated fans came together to raise the £43k. This is a monumental feat in its own right, let alone for a club in football’s seventh tier, and while under the dark cloud of a global pandemic.

The money raised will be used to improve several key areas of the ground, improving the environment for fans and ensuring that the stadium meets National League requirements as we plan for the future.

New floodlights will be installed to a standard rivalling any club in our league or the league above, ensuring the pitch stays well lit on those Tuesday nights under the Woodside lights. A new food and bar area, as well as a new toilet block, will be built in the Northeast corner of the ground, which will reduce queuing times, improve matchday income, create more of a buzz around the ground and allow us to segregate away fans if the need arose. Also, the home changing room will be revamped, allowing our players to prepare in the best way possible and help us attract new recruits.

All of these improvements are only possible because of the fantastic support we’ve received during our campaign. Because of that huge level of support, and how quickly it arrived, we feel it makes perfect sense to keep our Crowdfunder page open until the original end date in July. This gives fans and businesses who haven’t had the chance to support us yet even more time to get involved, and gives everyone more time to buy one of the unique rewards we have available.

All of the additional money raised will be stored in a separate secure account and used only for further stadium improvements. We have some potential improvements earmarked depending on the level of further funding we recieve; we want to make the ground more accessible for people with disabilities, make the steps on the Main Stand easier to use, replace the grass behind the East Stand, and potentially look at a digital scoreboard!

These potential extra improvements are all dependent on how much extra funding we receive, but the Crowdfunder will run until July 9th regardless to give the community ample time to get involved.

From everyone at Worthing Football Club, thank you. Your support in this campaign will help secure our future and really push this football club forward.