A CASH-STRAPPED football club is in dire straits after arsonists burnt its changing rooms to the ground.

Vandals caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to Stratton Wanderers North's storeroom and changing facilities in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Firefighters were called to the Abbey Way ground but were unable to save the club's goalposts, nets, line marker and flags, which were all kept in the 10m by 10m building.

Fireworks were found in the vicinity of the smouldering remains, but it is not known for sure how the fire was started.

Club chairman Dave Wakefield said: "To say it's gutting is an understatement.

"This is a completely mindless act of stupidity and the club would like somebody to step forward and let us know if they have seen anything."

Unfortunately, the building was not insured against this sort of damage and club officials are now battling to keep the table-topping team afloat.

Without goalposts and the funds to replace them, SWN is looking for other teams in their local division to help them through a difficult future.

Mr Wakefield said: "It looked like we had got through the bad times. We just kept getting better little by little, and now we have had the carpet pulled from underneath us.

"The problem is there are so few pitches and so many are shared already - but we are determined to see it through.

"We are thankful that no one was injured in the fire. They've broken in up there before and it was a tragedy waiting to happen."

SWN had planned to introduce a second team into the Cirencester leagues if they were promoted to the top division at the end of the season.

But now that seems unlikely as Mr Wakefield and manager Barry Smith struggle to keep the club from folding.

They are considering organising a fundraising campaign, but the cost of clearing the site and replacing the equipment lost is not yet known.

Police spokesman Matt Ford said: "The incident is being treated as arson, but at the moment it doesn't look like we have any witnesses. Anyone who may have seen anything suspicious during the early hours of Sunday morning should call Cirencester police on 0845 090 1234, quoting incident number 119 of November 6."