Football club suffers shocking start to the season after thieves strike (From St Helens Star)
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Penlake Football Club suffers shocking start to the season after thieves strike
3:40pm Wednesday 29th August 2012 in News
Garry Wilson examines the damage
TWICE this year one football club has been rocked on its heels; first by the weather and now by thieves.
Penlake Football Club is a Sutton institution, boasting more than 200 players aged between five to open age and has produced players, such as Ray Ranson, that have gone on to play at the highest level.
In the early hours of Monday, August 20, on the eve of the new season, crooks broke into their changing room and ripped out the boiler and copper piping.
In doing so they smashed sections of tiling in the showers, leaving the changing room unusable and strewn with rubbish.
Academy Director Garry Wilson said the whole club was “devastated”. It comes months after fierce January gales blew the roof off the changing rooms, just after vital club funds were used to replace it.
Two local business men, Mark Littler and Clint Harrison from Prescot Self Drive stepped in to save the day, by funding repairs and sponsoring the team. But the theft has left them reeling. Garry added: “We are going to have to buy a new boiler. We also had the name of the football club on the tiles, which were broken.
“They even took a little bit of pipe under the sink. I think they must have been here a few hours. We have a metal gate that goes over a security door and they had sawn through that. This is a 2 inch piece of metal.
“The season started on Saturday and there’s nothing we could do. “Now we are looking for someone who may have a bit of copper pipe to donate.”
A police spokesperson responded: “Merseyside Police is investigating following a burglary at a football changing rooms in St Helens. Officers were called on Tuesday (August 21) evening to The Beeches on Sutton Road to a report that a boiler and piping had been stolen from the premises. An investigation into the matter is underway. Anyone with information is urged to contact Merseyside Police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
