Kettering Town Football Club chief responds to Northampton residents' concerns over training at Moulton

The chairman of Kettering Town Football Club (KTFC), Dave Mahoney, has responded to concerns over his side temporarily training at Moulton Football Club due to the bad weather affecting KTFC's facilities.

One resident from Moulton, who contacted this newspaper after seeing the squad practising at the weekend, said the community feels KTFC could train closer to Kettering during the pandemic.

The Vanarama National League North team has been able to continue with their training as they fall into the elite sports category of the government's Covid lockdown regulations.

Mr Mahoney responded to the concerns by saying: "KTFC has fallen into the category of elite sport, meaning that as a club we have to meet our commitments to the league. As well as hosting home matches and travelling to away fixtures, we also need to provide training sessions for our squad.

"Sadly, the weather means that we can’t use our main pitch for training and suitable local alternatives are not operating at present, so we have worked with a relatively local club to use theirs. This agreement helps us - as we have a suitable training environment - and it helps Moulton financially, as we pay for the facilities."

The chairman said the club has a strict Covid protocol which everyone has to follow when travelling to and from a venue and whilst on any sites they visit.

"We would like to assure the residents of Moulton that we will do everything in our power to protect them and our players alike, as we have never underestimated the danger of this virus.

"We look forward to the day when things return to normal but accept that this is likely to be several months from now. In the meantime, we will continue to monitor the situation, do everything in our power to minimise risk and thank the team at Moulton for their continued support," Mr Mahoney said.

KTFC play Leamington Spa in the FA Trophy tonight (Tuesday), with kick-off at 7.45pm.