FOOTBALLERS who were threatened with being turfed out of a Sale sports centre have been given a reprieve.

Under a £500,000 scheme for Walton Park, leisure chiefs had proposed to renovate half the building, but demolish the other half - which includes the three indoor football pitches.

But a massive protest from the hundreds of footballers who use the centre forced a re-think.

Trafford Community Leisure Trust and the council have submitted a £900,000 bid for funding from the Government's Community Asset Fund to allow a bigger scale upgrade to be carried out at the centre.

Walton Park is among the schemes shortlisted to receive a grant, and leisure bosses have withdrawn their March 31 deadline for closing the pitches while they wait for a decision on the bid.

Campaigning footballer Paul Rowlands said: "This confirms that indoor football will continue at Walton Park for the foreseeable future - although the details of the eventual re-development will depend on the funding available.

"Clearly the footballers are delighted. There is now a positive dialogue with the council and the leisure trust.

"The long term future is still not certain, but thanks in part to Messenger's involvement we are now in a much happier position than when I first contacted the paper last year."

Bernie Jones, the leisure trust's chief executive, said: "Following discussions with the various user groups the council has obviously reviewed the original decision not to include the indoor football pitches in any redevelopment of Walton Park and is evaluating the various options before agreeing what 'plan B' should be.

"However, it is clear that any redevelopment, whether as a result of a successful Community Asset Fund bid, or using the already committed funding from the council, will not be completed by the end of March 2008, and the council and the trust have agreed an interim arrangement for the trust to continue to manage the facility. We will subsequently discuss the options of how to manage the redeveloped facility.

"However, while we are still not clear as to which long term option will eventually happen, we are at least delighted to confirm that in the immediate future Walton Park will continue to be available to all of its existing users."

cgriffin@messengernewspapers.co.uk