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The fight is back on to save the world's oldest football ground.

Boots have churned up the turf at the Drill Field home of Northwich Victoria since 1874, but directors at the club insist it must be sold to save the debt-ridden Cheshire side.

A group of rebel shareholders are determined that the ground - confirmed as the world's oldest by the Football Association - must be saved, saying a price can't be placed on the Vics' heritage.

The Vics have been playing at nearby Wincham Park since the beginning of the season, because the Drill Field does not meet safety standards for staging Nationwide Conference matches.

Shareholder Clive Penny, a supporter since the end of the Second World War, has pledged to battle for the Drill Field because he can't bear to see his club moved to its planned home on an industrial estate.

"You can't put a price on sporting heritage," he said. "The Drill Field is important to the history of football as well as the club. The Vics have to go back there.

"The number of supporters is dropping because we are losing our ground and I can't see where we are going if we don't go back. apart from bust."

Mr Penny, 65, who says he is the voice for fellow shareholders, added: "It's not about money, it's about saving the club we've supported since we were children. If we don't save the Drill Field, we will go into oblivion and so will our heritage."

Directors had struck a deal with developers to churn up the turf and build 105 houses, which would put the club back in the black and help cover the cost of the new stadium.

But the deal ran into trouble when members of Royal Vale borough council turned down the planning application because of the homes' design.

Developers Wilcon Homes are now appealing to the government to overturn the decision and directors say it's the Vics' only chance of survival.

Director Derek Nuttall said: "We just hope the council's decision is overturned, otherwise things are not good.

"Selling the Drill Field does not mean we are selling our heritage, this team is part of the community and we want it to stay that way. The only way forward is to move to a new stadium.

"I would have liked to stay at the Drill Field, but we were squeezed out by mounting debts and new safety standards, which we can't afford to pay for."

Time is running out for Mr Penny and his supporters, for the result of the government inquiry into the future of the ground is due within two months.

In a last-ditch effort, he has written to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, urging him to intervene because the ground is on a floodplain and the government has strict rules about building where flooding is a risk.

However, the Environment Agency has already agreed that houses can be built if they have deep foundations.