WEYMOUTH chairman Paul Maitland has revealed the Terras must complete three ground-grading building works before the end of the 2023/24 season.

The projects have delayed extra investment in the playing budget, given any club in Steps 1 and 2 could face relegation in a worst-case scenario if the criteria are not met.

All 72 clubs must provide additional changing rooms for officials, while Weymouth must also renovate some turnstiles and replace entirely some entry gates at the Bob Lucas Stadium.

It means other tasks at their headquarters, such as rejuvenating the players’ tunnel, installing higher-quality CCTV and replacing the PA system, have been shuffled down the Terras’ to-do list.

Weymouth are expected to help fund the works by applying for grants, but Maitland did concede the situation had affected bolstering their playing budget.

Speaking exclusively to Echosport, Maitland said: “Unfortunately, there are two or three ground-grading building projects that require immediate attention, certainly by the end of this season, which we didn’t know we were going to get.

“There’s a need to add additional changing rooms for officials. There’s a female officials’ changing room by the directors’ room and we’ve used it something like four times in eight years.

“We’re now being told there needs to be one downstairs and there needs to be two changing rooms of a certain size to allow if we have male, female or non-binary officials that we can give them rooms side-by-side to change in and they’re all the same facility.

“That’s a requirement of the league, that’s fine, but it’s an additional cost that most clubs don’t need.

“Not many clubs have three officials changing rooms. We have to do that before the end of the season.

“We’ve got some other bits and pieces to do as well to keep our ground grading for National League South and the National League.

“So, we’re having to find money again that wasn’t expected. But we’ll be OK and we’re looking at the Football Foundation grant system.

“We had to make substantial repairs to the Tony Hobson stand in the summer to make sure we could keep that open as well.

“There’s been some costs this year that couldn’t have been foreseen. Certain things are now being bumped down the list that we would like to do because we have to do these things.

“There’s always pressure to find money at a time when money is in short supply for everybody.

“So, whilst we are keen to support Bobby and give him some additional funds, and we will, we’re mindful we have some requirements that we absolutely have to do.”

Maitland added: “It would be pointless if we don’t do them and are relegated from the league on ground grading because we’ve spent the money on the players.

“For all clubs it’s a balancing act and it’s also a difficult time of the year with fixtures getting postponed.

“For us, we’ve got one home game in December. We have had to budget for that to ensure we can continue to pay all our bills through December. We will, there’s no problem.

“But it’s meant that we’ve had to really plan quite astutely how we get through this period. It does mean that what we can do for Bobby has been limited.”

While Wilkinson has therefore been restricted to making loan deals in recent weeks, Maitland is intent on clearing a path to invest in the playing squad in the coming months.

Explaining the situation further, he said: “We regularly review the finances at the club and let Bobby know what the parameters of that are.

“We are due to meet again, the finance board of the club, where we will look at it. We fully intend to have Bobby in those conversations with us to look at what we can and can’t do.

“The market is very difficult. He’s out looking all the time and I’ve got my director of football head back on this last week as well. We’re probing and asking questions.

“It seems to be a general thing across non-League at the moment. It’s very difficult to get players. It’s not always necessarily finance.

“Location has always been a big thing. People say: ‘Look more locally’. Well, we could do that but it’s not always easy.

“Financially, we’re fine and continue to be fine. We still have to be mindful but we’ll look to see if we can offer Bobby some more support.

“We’d rather spend money on players but we have to be sensible and make sure the ground stays open, simple as that.”