CRISIS club Lugar Boswell Thistle are on the brink of folding — unless an influx of new blood comes forward to help run the club.

They have called a meeting at Rosebank Park at noon on Sunday April 19 with the intention of forming a new committee but, if there are no volunteers, item number two on the agenda — to wind the club up — will then become the main item of business being discussed by the remaining few officials.

Club stalwart Kennie Young, who has officially stepped down after devoting more than 40 years service to the club, is helping out at present but is very much in the background and told the Chronicle that he is there in name only and fears for the future of Thistle, who have been in existence since 1878.

He said: “At a previous meeting there were some offers of help, but not enough to form a working committee and if that situation remains after Sunday’s meeting there is no future for the club. Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA) regulations state clubs must have a secretary and that is why my name is still registered with them.” Mr Young, who will be 61 in July, has made it clear that his priorities from now on are his wellbeing and family as he was starting to feel that the pressure of running a football club was having an adverse affect on his health, so he called it a day, something the Jaggy Bunnets may also have to contemplate in the next few days.

That unthinkable scenario will be avoided if there is a response to the club’s latest plea for help, as Mr Young confirmed: “I have taken the club as far as I can but we cannot continue to operate with what we have got — at any level.

“Anybody who wants to see Lugar surviving and can come and help the club is asked to step up. We have always punched above our weight, especially as we have always lived in the shadows of other clubs but we managed to be competitive despite all that. But it has now come to the crunch.

“I appreciate that we are not the only club with this problem, but more bodies will ease the burden. I think it may be a cultural thing as the younger generation has other interests and they do not seem to have the same feelings for the club.” Anyone who can help save their local club from oblivion is urged to go to Rosebank Park on Sunday and volunteer their services. Contact treasurer Shirley Bradford or Mr Young, or turn up at the ground and help save a club which was on the brink of promotion to the Superleague First Division just a few weeks ago.

People posting on social media sites have been mostly supportive of Lugar’s plight including Harry from Girvan, who said: “Horrible news. I really hope Lugar can somehow come through this it would be a real tragedy if such a historic club was to vanish from junior football.

“I must admit it doesn’t come as any great surprise that most of the smaller clubs are on the verge teams like Lugar, and Craigmark have struggled badly ever since the West merge. It’s such a shame that these wee village clubs could disappear from the game but sadly they are the victims of league reconstruction.” A Talbot fan said that her club had been in a similar position many years ago, and Lugar were one of the teams who had reached out to help the Beechwood Park side. She added: “It would be nice if Talbot and the other bigger clubs in the area could do something.”