Cash-strapped Dagenham & Redbridge could play their last ever home game

Dagenham & Redbridge fear they could play their last ever home game on Saturday, with the club in danger of going into liquidation this summer.

The National League side could go out of business after major benefactor Glyn Hopkin resigned as a director and stopped funding them.

Dagenham have been talking to potential new investors but they have yet to find a backer and are concerned they may struggle to pay their players next month and could go bust.

The club are in the process of exploring other ways of raising money if a new investor does not come forward but concerns over the future of the club, who were founded in 1992, are growing.

Dagenham managing director Steve Thompson said on Wednesday: “The situation is quite dire. We have not managed to attract an investor and we could possibly run out of money in the next couple of months.

“We are at home to Maidenhead on Saturday and that potentially could be our last ever home game.”

The club, who have no debts, have raised the £250,000 they need to fulfil their fixtures this season but from next month they will struggle to pay their players.

Thompson said: “We are still talking to a number of people but no one has come out of the woodwork yet.

“We are looking at ways of keeping the club going next season but it is relying on us finding some short-term funding and I am not sure we can do that. Our problem is commitments to players’ contracts and being able to service them going forward. I am not certain how we deal with that at the moment.”

Dagenham are 11th in the National League and look set to miss out on the play-offs after losing 3-1 to Bromley last night. They reached the play-offs last season after finishing fourth, and have two more away games to play after Saturday’s match.

Local businessman Hopkin walked away from the club following a falling-out with a section of fans.

A consortium led by Hopkin purchased a controlling stake in the club after they were relegated from the Football League in 2016 and his exit has left them in danger of going out of business.

The Daggers, who were runners-up in the FA Trophy in 1997, have appealed for new investors to come forward and save them.