Bicester Town Community Football Club, which has been at the heart of the community for more than a century, was given notice to quit its Oxford Road ground last week. Today it will handed back the keys. The team will also disband, but club members have not ruled out a team reforming with the same name in the future,if they can find another ground.

Landlord Bicester Sports Association, BSA, gave the club notice over claims “it had failed to meet its commitments”. Last year the club and sports association were at loggerheads over a £9,000 debt, which has since been repaid. An emergency club meeting last Thursday took the decision to close. Club chairman John Clutterbuck then resigned after the meeting.

Secretary Julian Pattison will be “tidying up” the club’s paperwork, which includes closing its bank account. He said: “It’s closing. It’s ironic, in that it’s the first time as long as anyone remembers we didn’t owe the sports association any money. Plainly they feel we cannot trade successfully in the future. There’s still a reasonable possibility the team will play elsewhere, but that will depend on the members of the club, who may decide in due course they would like to set up another team under the same name. As it stands at 4pm, with enormous regret, we hand over the keys to the ground.”

Mr Clutterbuck said he was disappointed to see the club close. He said: “I’m disappointed, it’s a sad day for Bicester that the club is closing. We spent a lot of time trying to correct things that happened in the past, and put our own money into it.”

BSA chairman Adam Wade said: “We are confident that we will be reaching an agreement with another user club within the immediate future. We cannot comment whether Bicester Town Community FC will be closing, but they won’t be using our site.”

To play in the football league the club must have a home ground, but it can share a ground with another team.