AN AMATEUR football club has issued a desperate appeal for sponsors after their main financial backer is suspected to have gone into liquidation.

Berks County FC, a registered charity, runs more than 30 teams in Bracknell but is facing financial strife after key sponsor Blue Qube Construction Ltd shut its doors last week and withdrew £2,000 worth of funding from the club. 

It has cast doubt over the club's big move into new grounds in Ascot this summer and has left them stuck with two-years worth of football kits emblazoned with the Blue Qube logo. 

Club chairman Richard Lloyd said the trustees, all volunteers, were in disbelief at the sudden financial black-hole they are facing. 

Mr Lloyd founded the club in 2009 and said: "It will certainly be harder to run the club, the agreement was signed last summer for two years and we have bought two years worth of kit with the Blue Qube logo on it.

"We're hoping there's a local business that might be interested in sponsoring us, drum up a bit of business and help us out of the situation.

"We haven't spoken to the rest of the club yet, I think they're going to be shocked that a company would support a charity then pull out without any prior notice."

Mr Lloyd didn't hear about the company's closure until he arrived to present one of the newly bought shirts to the office in Great Hollands only to find a liquidation notice on the office door.

He hasn't been able to contact the company director since.

"I still haven't spoken to him. He's a really good old friend and that relationship turned into support for the team. It's disappointing and a real shame," Mr Lloyd added.

"The club will continue. We've grown unbelievably quickly from zero teams to 30. It's been great and we've grown organically, but it seems we've been hit hard by this recession which apparently wasn't happening in Bracknell." 

The charitable arm of Berks County runs 32 football teams catering for all ages from three years old to the elderly and was supposed to move to new grounds this summer using grant money. 

They were given grant money for the new grounds on the condition they stump up some of their own cash for fencing and goal posts. 

A notice in the public records shows there was a meeting of the Blue Qube creditors regarding insolvency proceedings on February 3, 2016.

Do you think you could sponsor the club? Get in touch: lhill@berksmedia.co.uk