FOOTBALL league administrator Tim Phillips has hit out at the standard of council-owned changing facilities for clubs in Worcester.

Phillips, the McDonald’s Worcester and District Football League secretary, has labelled the facilities as “the worst” he could remember.

He claimed Worcester City Council had not resolved problems at Perdiswell and said KGV Brickfields had been hit by drainage prob - lems last season.

But David Sutton, service manager at Worcester City Council, said the demand for football on council pitches was being met.

He said football would be returning to Perdiswell in the autumn and improvement work was being carried out at Brickfields and to the chang - ing facilities at Pitchcroft.

The number of senior pitches at Diglis playing fields would be cut to one because of landscaping and othe work to enhance the area for the public.

Phillips highlighted his concerns in his secretary’s report at the league’s annual general meeting.

He said: “I’ve purposely left grounds and facilities until last in this report, as they continue to cause consternation with both clubs and the management committee.

“Changing facilities in the city, or lack of them, are probably at the worst-ever stan ard that I can remember, but rest assured the committee will keep banging the drum to try and improve things.“

Division Two outfit Worcester City Wanderers play home matches at Pitchcroft and Darren Evans, the chairman and manager, echoed Phillips’ concerns.

Evans said: “We pay £45 a game to use the pitch and changing facilities but we never use the changing rooms and, nine times out of 10, the opposition choose not to use them either.

“It’s OK there but it would be so much better if the club room was bigger and we could use it as a community centre.

“Worcester is good for football but the facilities are not there. If they were better, I am sure more children would be coming through the ranks.

“There are some good places to play football in Worcester — like Nunnery Wood — but it should not just be limited to a couple of areas.”

Sutton said the council were working with the Football Foundation to bring Perdiswell pitches back into use.

“We are working very closely with the Football Foundation to get the pitches available as soon as possible,” said Sutton.

“The intention is to return football to Perdiswell which has some excellent changing facilities.

“There are changing facilities at Pitchcroft and we are doing refurbishment work there. We are already doing a bit of work at Brickfields. We are looking to maximise the use of sites with good facilities and Diglis is also part of that.”