CHAIRMAN Clive Robbins admits Poole Town could face an uncertain future unless ongoing ground issues reach a speedy and satisfactory conclusion.

The Dolphins tomorrow face their latest D-Day when officials from the Football Association and the Southern League will inspect their current headquarters at Tatnam.

Poole are hoping the venue will be given the green light to temporarily stage step four football as the club continues its painstaking bid to find a permanent new home.

Wessex League champions for the past two years, Poole’s previous applications for promotion were rejected as the facilities at Tatnam had failed to meet stringent regulations.

However, the club – which again looks set to win the title – has carried out a series of recent improvements in an attempt to get the ground up to scratch ahead of its latest inspection.

Should Tatnam pass, it would give Poole some much-needed breathing space and buy time for the club to continue its long-standing search for a permanent new facility.

And with the club’s next planning hearing for a site at Bearwood likely to be recommended for rejection, chairman Robbins fears any further setbacks with Tatnam could have serious ramifications for Poole.

He told the Daily Echo: “It is all up in the air at the moment. If we can win the title, which does look promising, and get the grading then we would go into the Southern League South and West Division next season.

“If the worst really did come to the worst and we failed our ground-grading then I don’t quite know what the next step forward would be for the club. It would be very upsetting, particularly for our supporters. We have a good fan-base and I think it would grow in the Southern League.

“Let’s just hope the councillors do the right thing at the next planning meeting and maybe we will have something to look forward to with the new ground. As for Tatnam, it is looking superb. It looks like a football ground and we would be very happy to live there for a couple of years until we build a new ground.

“There are other possibilities which might come up in the next couple of seasons but we would be very happy to be back in the Southern League, where we were in the early-90s.”

Robbins, meanwhile, described as “the lowest point in my chairmanship” Poole’s defeat in the semi-final of the FA Vase at the hands of Whitley Bay. The Dolphins bowed out 5-2 on aggregate after losing Saturday’s second leg 3-1 in the north east. The club made around £8,000 from their run in the competition.

“I was delighted to reach the semi-final and it was a wonderful experience,” added Robbins. “We are very disappointed not to have made the final but we were beaten by a better team on the day. Only four clubs in the country got this far and we were one of them. I am so proud we got as far as we did.”