VANDALS have struck at a football club 10 times in the past two years.

The back of seats in the Saltney Town FC spectator stand have been snapped off.

Earlier this year windows of the club's changing rooms were smashed, leading to club chairman saying at the time that further incidents would put the future of the club into serious jeopardy.

Club chairman Darren Meredith said: ''We will never catch the culprits, or indeed any of those responsible for the constant vandalism at the ground.

"But, please, if you know who's done this, or as parents if you know that your children hang out here, please urge them to stop these mindless acts.

''We need to erect at least another one of these stands in the next 12-18 months to meet Football Association of Wales ground criteria for our level.

"We can neither afford to replace these seats, or lose them as part of the total allocation. This stand cost over £10,000 and we put a lot of work into getting it.''

This is the third separate incident of seats on the stand being damaged, while the stand's roof has also been kicked.

To add to the problem, over the last couple of years the changing room have been broken into and money and other items belonging to the club were stolen, the pitchside boards have been ripped and broken off and the pitch roller has been broken.

Mr Meredith added: ''We're trying our best to create facilities, and opportunities for all ages, and it's great to see the support we get on matchdays and the like.

''But these idiots have no idea how much these setbacks affect the club, or maybe they do but they just don't care.

''I can't get it through my head how smashing things up is seen as a past time?

"There's an excellent youth club at Saltney, so I can't see how boredom can be used as an excuse.''

And Mr Meredith thinks it is time to take action to prevent further instances.

He said: ''Erecting a perimeter fence and moving our changing rooms into the compound seems the only way this can be stopped, and allow us to continually improve without this cropping up again and again. It's time this happened.

''We can't install a camera as the pitch itself isn't close enough to an available power source.''

Veronica Gay, county councillor for Saltney Stonebridge Ward, said: ''It's a crying shame, especially with all the voluntary work they do and things they put on for the community.

''It's malicious damage for no reason at all and I simply can't believe that they think this kind of behaviour is acceptable. All the work they put in to the club is being undone by mindless idiots.

''It's soul-destroying and I think it's time these vandals are named and shamed, people will know who they are and if they're too scared to come forward, pass the information on to me anonymously and I'll take it to the powers that be.''

PCSO Dan Hughes said: ''Following further damage to the stand at Sandy Lane, it has been added to our patrol plan.

"If anyone has any information regarding this mindless vandalism please contact North Wales Police. Sadly this is not an isolated incident.

''This is a fantastic community run football club for people of all age groups.

"The club work tirelessly to give the town a football club they can be proud of and this is very disheartening that anybody can do this, as it’s difficult to fund grass roots football.

"We will look to work with the club to see what can be done it terms of security and crime prevention advice going forward.''