NORTHWICH Victoria threatened to sue Witton Albion after their landlords decided they no longer wanted to share their home ground.

Vics argued that an eviction, announced last month, could put them out of business.

“We literally cannot afford to risk losing a court case,” Mark Harris, Witton’s chairman, told supporters during a meeting on Thursday.

Instead the rivals have negotiated a new deal, lasting initially for one season, that they will present to the Northern Premier League before the weekend.

Its terms include a substantially higher rent, to be paid by Vics in three instalments.

Harris reflected: “We feel like we've been bullied.”

In a statement issued on March 7, Witton confirmed they would not renew an arrangement for Northwich, who play in the same division, to host opponents at Wincham Park.

At that time they declined to say why, but ruled out unpaid rent as the reason.

Last night, they said it was.

It left their tenants with little more than three weeks to find somewhere else before a deadline at the end of the month.

League officials have since confirmed Vics asked for extra time, but that request was refused.

But in a phone call 48 hours before the cut-off date, Harris said he was told a solicitor had been instructed to start legal proceedings against Albion for a breach of contract.

“Vics assert we did not give them enough notice, and that if they could not find an alternative venue then the club would fold,” he added.

“That’s not something you can just ignore.”

Witton then took legal advice.

“It said we were vulnerable,” admitted board member John Salmon.

Responding to a question from fan David Nield, he revealed the original tenancy agreement with Vics did not define a notice period for its termination.

He added: “Is 26 days reasonable notice? That’s what a court would rule on, and it’s determined by circumstances.

“The main issue after that is cost.

“In cases like this, the winner gets paid by the loser. Could we enforce that if it went our way?

“And if we lose, we may have to sell the family silver.”

The first draft of a new deal with Vics has been rejected by league officials.

They will decide whether to approve an amended version – due to be submitted today, Friday – at a board meeting on Sunday.

The two clubs had announced an initial three-year arrangement last February.

“Would you prefer to see Northwich Victoria fold rather than Witton Albion mount a promotion challenge next season?” Harris asked fans inside the social club at the start of a forum that finished three hours later.

“Your answer can’t be ‘both’.”

He revealed that rent payments from Vics had been the fourth largest source of income into Wincham Park this term.

“Add bar-takings [from their home games] and that’s a quarter of our wage bill,” he added.

“I think it was the right decision to start with; it boosted our finances and enabled us to sustain the playing budget we had the previous year.

“Put simply, this club is not paying its way, and is increasingly dependent on loans from directors.

“The trouble is those individuals have no more money to put in.”

The updated ground-share agreement prevents Witton from kicking out their tenants once the season has started.

Instead, if they are owed money they must report them to the FA using its football debt recovery rule.

That clause has been inserted at the request of the league, who want to eliminate the possibility of a team being left homeless while it still has games to play.

“I can’t afford for any club to be at risk of being evicted because of non-compliance with the terms of a ground-share they’ve negotiated," Alan Allcock, the league's operations manager, told the Guardian earlier this week.