GREAT Harwood Town have been forced to fold - but chairman Bill Holden hopes they will be back.

The homeless club have written a letter of resignation to the North West Counties League this week after failing to attract a major backer to save the club.

The Robins have been operating without a ground for the last 18 months after fire destroyed the changing rooms and bar at the Showground.

"I am devastated," said Holden, the chairman of ten years.

"But I am a realist and I know that, without a ground and therefore our own cash flow, we couldn't continue as a club."

Harwood played last season at Accrington Stanley but they need their own ground to bring in finance and there is no chance, in the immediate future, of them returning to the Showground.

The ground is still in the same state as it was after the fire as the Robins leased it off Ian Jackson, who owned Monroes nightclub next door which was also badly damaged.

Jackson is still waiting for the finances to be sorted out before anything can be done on the site.

The chairman was hoping a last ditch investor would come in and save the club but no one had come forward and the directors were left with no option.

"It is a sickener. I have spoke to the manager John Hughes and he is telling the players although no one had signed on for next year," continued Holden.

"We went to the league AGM and unofficially told them what was happening and the secretary will be sending the official resignation off this week.

"These last few years, it has been one thing after another and it has been a hard slog.

"I don't know what I will do but you can never say never with any club.

"Great Harwood have resigned from the league before (in 1978) and came back and teams like Accrington Stanley, Fleetwood, Formby and Bootle have reformed so there is some hope there - but not at the moment."

Harwood's heyday was in the 1970s when they had ex-England players Ronnie Clayton and Bryan Douglas playing for them. They have been up and down the leagues since then, finishing sixth in the NWCL Division Two last season.

Stanley midfielder Andy Procter used to play for them as well as striker Matty Derbyshire, who has just signed a new deal at Premier side Blackburn Rovers.

And Accrington Stanley chairman Eric Whalley is gutted the club he used to play for - and still watches - has gone out of business.

"It is very sad. I think they have been let down by one or two people in Great Harwood who could have helped them and put their hands in their pockets to keep the club going.

"They shouldn't have folded and it now means there is no semi-professional club in the area. The non league scene in Hyndburn has finished, it is all amateur football now.

"Fortunately for us, Accrington Stanley have moved the right way but Harwood have moved the wrong way.

"It denies players a stepping stone as people like Jonathan Smith and Andy Procter have moved from Harwood to Stanley in the past. It is such a shame it has come to this."