IF IT were not for Park Engineering, Weymouth Football Club would have gone to the wall a long time ago.

That's a controversial statement, but it's almost certainly true.

Over the past eight years, proprietors Dave Higson and Mick Archer have thrown more than £300,000 at the Terras - money that has repeatedly kept the cash-strapped club alive.

In the past month they've sunk a further £40,000 into the struggling club's empty coffers to meet wages, tax demands and National Insurance contributions, and no doubt they will be reaching for the cheque book again to help pay for urent repairs now needed at the ground.

The Football-mad pair have received precious little in return for all their money.

For £300,000 you'd expect a little bit of success, but the glory days have so far failed to return for the Terras. So why do these two businessmen continue to bail out the sinking ship that is Weymouth Football Club?

"It's probably because we're mad," admits Higson. "We can't be sane", added Archer.

Joking aside, they do it because they care passionately about the club, despite neither being local men (Higson originates from Bolton and Archer comes from Tamworth).

I met up with the Terras 'sugar daddies' and discovered that their patience is beginning to wear thin.

They're fed up with the lack of success and they're about to do something about it.

In this frank interview, Higson and Archer reveal their thoughts on a range of topics from sports writer Ian Ridley's failed rescue bid to the proposed development of a new Wessex Stadium...

IT'S eight years since Park Engineering became involved with the Terras and it's cost you something like £300,000 for the 'privilege'. If you had your time over again, would you have put your money elsewhere?

Dave Higson: We're just football fans and we wanted to support football in the community where we make our living.

From that point of view we have no regrets and have thoroughly enjoyed being involved. Having said that, in many ways we might as well have just poured our money down the drain for the good it's done.

We've enjoyed a little bit of success over the years, but to be honest the club has gone nowhere in that time and that's very frustrating. Every season begins with a lot of hope, managers promising a decent run in the FA Cup and the anticipation of winning promotion to the Conference.

But what happens every time is that we get knocked out in the early stages of the FA Cup, which means no extra income, and we struggle to survive until the end of the season. We've had enough of that sort of thing and we refuse to put up with it for another season. We'll only avoid it happening again by making changes at various levels of the club, which is something we're working towards at the moment.

Does that mean Park Engineering is about to end its association with Weymouth Football Club?

Mick Archer: Not at all. What it means is that Park Engineering is no longer prepared to throw money at the football club without it being used to move the club beyond the point we've been stuck at for the last eight years.

Park is happy to carry on helping the club, and that will probably continue to be the case until such time as we move into the proposed new stadium.

In the meantime, if a bigger, better main sponsor came along, we'd happily move sideways to accommodate them.

The future of the club appears to be dependent on the proposed development of the Wessex Stadium. The time scale on this project is said to be about three to four years. Can the club survive that long?

MA: The club is in a desperate state and it's going to be hard work. But yes, it will survive. Every now and then the directors have to dig deep to overcome a crisis, but we keep doing it and will continue to do so.

Over the past month Park Engineering lent the club £40,000 to help meet the wage bill and tax and Inland Revenue demands. If we hadn't, the club could well have gone to the wall.

We did look at getting an advance from the developers on the £1.2m the club is due when the development is completed and the new ground built. They offered us a 'sub' of £300,000 and at first we thought we were on to a good thing. Then came the paperwork from their solicitors and it didn't look good.

First they wanted us to sign over the lease of the ground to them, which would have been highly dangerous because that would have meant the club would no longer own the ground and therefore have no control over what happened to the land.

Then they wanted to stop the £70,000 interim payments that the club currently receives, which is the sum of money they have agreed to pay annually until the development is complete. We estimate the development will take three years and so the club would have lost £210,000. In return they would have advanced £300,000 from the £1.2m we are to receive after the work is done and so the club would have completely lost that £210,000.

I don't think we would have been forgiven for allowing that to happen and so instead, we decided the best course of action was to lend the club money and claim it back when funds are available.

Are there any foreseeable expenses that the club may have problems meeting?

DH: The club lives hand to mouth as it is, but the main concern must be the state of the Wessex Stadium itself. The ground is in desperate need of repair and that will cost a lot of money.

The main stand is falling apart, the floodlights are failing fast and we can't get up the towers to change any bulbs because the footing area used to climb on is corroding.

There are leaks in the boardroom and some of the crash barriers on the terraces are rotting away - all in all we have some mega problems. The biggest fear is that people won't be allowed in on safety grounds if the work isn't carried out soon.

We reckon more than £100,000 is needed to do it and we're just keeping our fingers crossed that some grants are made available from the Football Trust like they were when we had to repair the terracing roof which blew off in a storm a couple of years ago.

What stage is the proposed development of the Wessex Stadium at?

MA: As you know, we can't say too much. What we can say however is that the plans have gone in and so far there have been no obstacles.

We're happy and the developers are happy and it's just a case of being patient. Generally, no news is good news as far as this is concerned.

After rejecting Ian Ridley's rescue package in January, the club said it had other investors to talk to. Are you able to give details of these talks?

DH: Talks were held with a number of potential investors but none were successful - none were in the best interests of the club. One person we spoke to was former Bournemouth and Yeovil director Norman Hayward who we thought, with his experience, might be the right man for the club. We had a meeting with him, which went well, and he then asked to meet Trent, the company who are developing the Wessex Stadium. We were a little unsure of this because of Mr Hayward's background as a developer himself, but we agreed and the meeting went well. Mr Hayward then sent his financial advisor to see us and after another long meeting, he said he would go back and advise his client but he did say he was confident of something happening. That was a couple of months ago and we've not heard a thing since.

The developer Trent then looked at investing money for a place on the board but their solicitors advised them that that would not be a good idea.

I think it's fair to say we looked at and listened to a number of ideas but when push came to shove, none of them appeared very serious or good for the Terras.

It's rumoured that Ian Ridley is still in the picture and that meetings regularly take place between him and board members. Is that true?

MA: Yes it is true. We respect our chairman Terry Bennett although it's unfortunate that there is a personality clash between him and Ian that prevents them talking further.

In some ways we understand Terry's feelings because Ian was very critical of him when he met the board with his proposals back in January.

But we have met Ian regularly since then because we believe that of all the offers of help the club has received, his is the one that could work in our favour.

It's unfortunate that the pair don't see eye to eye, but we have kept Terry informed and updated every step of the way and so there's no secret meetings taking place or anything being done underhand.

Does this then amount to a split, with directors going in different directions?

DH: There's possibly a split on the board but at the end of the day, we, Terry Bennett and Ian Ridley all have the good of the football club at heart.

One of the reasons we talk regularly with Ian is because he has given ground on his original proposals, as have we.

The more we talk, the closer we come to an agreement.

We've spent hours around the table and in that time we've thrashed out many things and our visions are now very similar.

What kept us going was the fact that many elements of Ian's package appeared terrific for the club and so it was important that we didn't let personalities get in the way.

Now we're getting close to some common ground and it's taken a fair bit of give and take on both sides.

That would suggest Ian Ridley will soon be a director of Weymouth Football Club. Is that true?

MA: I think it's safe to say that Ian will become involved in the near future. Changes need to be made at board level and these will happen soon. Ian has a number of backers behind him, some of whom want seats on the board in exchange for their investments.

We have asked Ian to provide us with written details of who these people are and what sum of money they're planning to put in, and he is doing this as a way of a guarantee.

Since the departures of Tony Greaves and Steve McDonald, the board is short of members and it is now our intention to get the figure up to at least eight again. All we asked of Ian is that none of these investors take a controlling interest in the club because that wouldn't be right. At this stage we don't have precise details, but what we're talking about is something like five backers each acquiring in the region of 20,000 shares and that would be acceptable.

The other stipulation is that none of the current board members are forced to leave, and so hopefully all of us including Peter Shaw and Terry Bennett will stay and work with Ian and the new members. But the future does look bright with Ian involved.

The fans have often said that Dave Higson is the right man to be chairman of Weymouth Football Club. Is there any reason you have never taken up the post?

DH: I'm flattered when fans say I should be chairman, but I know my weak points. I'm not good at hiding my feelings and so if I came into contact with someone I disliked, I would have to tell them because I know no other way.

A football club chairman couldn't do that and I'm also no good at public speaking, which you need to be. As joint vice-chairman, I put in a lot of time but my main responsibilities are to Park Engineering which employs more than 70 people.

They come first and I can't devote the time needed to be chairman because the business would suffer.

Also, I'm getting to the stage in my life where I want an easy ride. I want to watch my other team, Bolton Wanderers, spend time with my family and just go down the Wessex Stadium and enjoy it rather than have all the responsibility.

With hindsight - team struggling, smaller gates, etc - do you regret making the budget cuts last summer?

DH: We didn't have any choice. The bank wanted to see a business plan showing sizeable cuts and so that's what we had to deliver.

We knew at the time that it would mean a season of struggle and that's what we've had. Yes, it's regrettable, but we had no other option.

What sort of problems would be created if the team were to get relegated from the Dr Martens Premier Division this season?

MA: In a word, relegation would be a disaster. It's not something we like to think about and we're confident it won't happen.

The main effect would be to Ian Ridley's plans because more than half the investors he has lined up do not want to put money into a Dr Martens Eastern or Western Division club. Relegation is a banned word as far as we're concerned.

During his original approach to the club, Ian Ridley stated that he would look to bring a new manager in, should he become chairman of the Terras. You admit that talks have been ongoing with Mr Ridley, yet recently the board gave current manager Geoff Butler a contract until the end of next season. What was the thinking behind this?

DH: Whatever changes are made at boardroom level, they will not affect Geoff Butler's position at the club.

Geoff came to us and asked for a contract last month because he wanted to start planning for next season and was concerned that players he brought in such as Jason Matthews, Steve Tully and Martyn Sullivan, would not commit further without knowing who was going to be running the side.

When you're down the bottom of the table fighting for survival, the last thing you want is to rock the boat and so we agreed to Geoff's contract to help stabilise things in the dressing room.

Assuming the Terras don't go down, what plans are in place to ensure that next season is a more successful one on the pitch?

DH: There have to be big changes in personnel and that includes the playing squad. We have some marvellous players who have served the club well over the years but this season, as a team, we've simply not been good enough.

We can't go into another season with the same people doing the same things and expect everything to be different. It won't happen and the fans deserve better.

It's going to be a busy summer all round, but changes will be made for the good of the club and to help ensure success in the future.