Football teams that help train 130 kids face becoming ‘homeless’, it has been warned, as council pitches are handed to a new operator.

Coaches said young players at Springburn Park are no longer being offered suitable times for training since the site was taken over.

Athena Glasgow Women and Girls Football Academy and Ashfield Juniors Football Club and Youth Academy all fear they will have to move teams elsewhere.

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The council is handing over the running of the Springburn Park facility to the Brunswick trust.

Part of Brunswick’s proposal to take it on was there would “be retention of long-standing fee-paying lets.”

However, Athena co-founder and chairperson Craig O’Leary, said he fears their players’ will be “forced out” after being offered times slots of 9pm to 10pm for kids and 6pm to 7pm – when coaches are just finishing work.

He said: “We are a community club set up to ensure women and girls have a safe and welcoming environment in their local community to play football and learn life skills with no barriers.”

Paul Maxwell, managing director of Ashfield Football Academy, said he has also been given different time options that aren’t appropriate for about 30 to 40 kids.

Mr Maxwell said: “It looks like we probably need to move as the times cannot be accommodated.

“The verbal information we got from the council is that whoever gets the lease would have to honour existing leases.”

A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: “Throughout the process, a key aim of the programme has been to ensure groups who use these facilities continue to do so – and in a number of cases this access has been widened – and we will continue to work with all of our partners so that all those who want to use these venues can do exactly that.”

A Brunswick Community Development Trust spokeswoman said: “We want to assure everyone involved that our aim is to provide equal opportunities and increase accessibility to the facility for all grassroots teams in the area. As part of this process, we have had to review and adjust the existing leases to accommodate a larger number of teams, these proposals were approved by both Committee and Officers via the PMGC process.

“While we understand that some teams may have concerns about the new timing arrangements, we have made every effort to communicate, discuss and offer alternatives to these changes with all parties involved. Our goal is to strike a balance that benefits the broader grassroots football community in Glasgow North East while ensuring the long-term sustainability of the asset.

“It is important to note that the terms of the asset transfer agreement did not explicitly state that previous leases would be honoured without any adjustments nor was any team provided a guarantee at any stage of the PMGC process. We have been in extensive dialogue with the teams and have taken into consideration their feedback and concerns throughout.”