By ADAM LAZZARI WISBECH Town Football Club s new chairman Paul Brenchley believes he can make the Fenmen a force to be reckoned with but expects a backlash at his appointment. Mr Brenchley, 51, from Wisbech, is chairman of Outwell s Village Hall and Playi

By ADAM LAZZARI

WISBECH Town Football Club's new chairman Paul Brenchley believes he can make the Fenmen a force to be reckoned with but expects a backlash at his appointment.

Mr Brenchley, 51, from Wisbech, is chairman of Outwell's Village Hall and Playing Field Committee, and he replaced Barry Carter as Wisbech Town chairman at the club's annual meeting on Monday.

Wisbech Town will be using Outwell Playing Field as a temporary home while a £1.2 million stadium is built and Mr Brenchley expects critics to point to a conflict of interest.

The club will pay £150 a game to use the Outwell site and the move prevents them from paying around £90,000 to rent Fenland Park from its new owners, Purple Properties Ltd.

Mr Brenchley said: "I can't see there being a problem and the club hasn't been given any special treatment."

Mr Brenchley runs PB Engineering in Four Gotes, his wife, Tracy, runs The Crown pub in Outwell and his brother, David, played for Wisbech in the 1960s and 1970s.

Wisbech Town supporter and website editor Spencer Larham said: "Paul's a man that gets things done. He's level-headed and is successful businessman."

Ex-Wisbech manager and current shareholder Roy McManus said: "I had some disagreements with Paul as he was one of the people suggesting we should scrap the reserves to cut costs. But he's a man who has the club at heart and a good business sense and I wish him the best of luck."

Mr Brenchley completed his first job as Wisbech chairman on Wednesday when he met with Ridgeons League official Merlin Saddleton for an inspection of the Outwell premises.

He said: "It's crucial that we take things one stage at a time. We're in the financial trouble we're in because we've tried to run before we can walk."

Ten years ago the Fenmen enjoyed a lucrative FA Cup run and appointed former Grimsby player Gary Childs as a full-time manager on £20,000 a year and a company car.

He was sacked within a year because the club couldn't afford to pay him.

Mr Brenchley said: "That was very unusual at the time for a non-league club and it was quite ludicrous. There'll be nothing like that going on now.

"The first thing to sort out the new ground. There's no point building half a stadium and then not being able to pay for the rest of it."

Mr Brenchley said of out-going chairman Mr Carter, who will stay on as the club's treasurer, "Barry's kept this club going for the last six or seven years and if hadn't been for him Wisbech would have gone into administration."

At the meeting Terry Back was elected to the board and Colin Garwood has taken the newly-created role of director of football.