TEN YEARS ON... CITY GET THE NOD FOR RETURN

GLOUCESTER CITY are officially going home – nearly ten years after they were forced out of flood-hit Meadow Park.

The green light was given to the National League North club to return this week when permission was granted following a sustained campaign to get the club back in the city.

Manager Tim Harris says the news is “simply massive” for the Tigers, who have been based at Forest Green, Cirencester and Cheltenham Town’s Whaddon Road after the crushing floods ripped apart their former home in 2007.

It is a week of milestones with Harris taking charge of his 250th game on Saturday when FC Halifax visited. Despite going through a troubled decade, the club have prospered on the pitch. Before this weekend’s fixtures, Gloucester sat seventh in the most demanding division in Non-League football.

Harris carried on the good work of Dave Mehew and despite an outstanding record he now says his main focus is still being in a job when they cut the ribbon!

He said: “It’s huge for the club – it’s the news we all wanted to hear. Every club needs a home to call their own and we’re no different.

“I was here nearly ten years ago when the floods came and saw for myself all the devastation caused. We won’t be able to start building the stadium straight away, but it’s the development we all wanted to hear. My focus is now making sure I’m still in charge when we eventually move in!”

Gloucester chairman Mike Dunstan told the local Gloucestershire

Citizen that the club’s achievements while being in exile are nothing short of a “sporting miracle”, adding: “We need people to recognise what a special football club they have here,” he said. “This season has seen us competing at the top level of a division with some former and future massive clubs in the game.”

Harris has added to his squad in the light of an injury picked up to left-back Lewis Hall. The manager – beset by problems this season including a seasonlong absence for striker Ethan Moore – has called in a favour at Bristol Rovers.

Gas full-back Danny Greenslade has agreed to join on loan for a month from the League One club and was in the squad to face FC Halifax.