Owner Akhtar admits plastic could be fantastic for Kettering Town in the future

But the Poppies owner has made it clear the club's supporters will be fully consulted ahead of any final decision being made.

With the weather at long last improving, football is now thankfully back on the menu at Latimer Park, but it has been a winter of discontent when it comes to postponements, due to the pitch being frozen, and then in more recent times being regularly waterlogged.

Last Tuesday's clash with Stratford Town was the first Poppies home match to be played since way back on December 20, a break of 73 days, with the club being forced to make seven postponements in that time.

When he took ocntrol of the club back in May, 2024, Akhtar made it clear that he would like to keep a grass pitch at Latimer Park, but with what has happened both last season and this, he and the rest of the club’s board have had something of a change of heart.

And they are now coming round to the idea the Poppies would benefit greatly from switching to a 4G pitch, and that there are already provisional plans in place.

"Before I bought the club I was told there was one season where we had nine games called off, and we have now had seven postponements," said Akhtar.

"As you can imagine that is very, very difficult financially, but it is also no fluke that the clubs who have done really well recently and gone through the leagues, even last season with Bedford Town, have gone with 4G pitches.

"It is definitely something we are exploring right now.

"Look at the teams above us, and in leagues above us, they play on 4G as well, so who are we to turn our nose up at that?

"But it will obviously cost a lot of money, so we are going down the route of what the FA can give us, or of we can do it privately ourselves, but it is something we are having to talk about, and we were doing that before we have all of these postponements.

"They have just made us want to do it a bit more, and clubs at this level we can't afford to have games off.

"If we do go down that route then it could be the best investment we could make."

And Akhtar then explained the process that has already taken place as the club mulls over its options for the future – and that the supporters will be able to have their say.

"As a committee we have been talking about this for months," said the Poppies owner.

"We have drawn up a brochure and we have drawn up proposals for fans if they want to get involved.

"But we haven't put it out there yet, because it is something we are not quite sure we are going to do.

"We have to go through planning as well, so there are things that we need to put in place beforehand, and that all costs money as well.

"There is a bit of a road map we have to follow first, but 100 per cent the fans will be consulted about it."

Interview by Peter Short