Mansfield Town ask for more time for Field Mill lease

Mansfield Town have asked the Football Conference for more time to sort out a 10-year lease at Field Mill.

The Stags need the lease by the end of Tuesday, 1 March to meet Football League requirements should they be promoted or reach the play-offs.

But they say that they need more time to resolve a dispute with landlord and former owner Keith Haslam.

The Stags are in 14th place in the Blue Square Bet Premier and are 14 points adrift of the play-off places.

A club statement read: "We have applied for an extension of this deadline due to the extenuating circumstances surrounding our current tenancy arrangements at Field Mill.

"Our legal fight with landlord Keith Haslam is an unprecedented step by a Blue Square Bet Premier club to question the legal ownership of its stadium and we firmly believe that we have a strong moral case to see it through to its conclusion before the Football Conference or Football League place any further demands on us to satisfy membership rules."

Radford said the club had agreed a new lease in December last year.

But Haslam refused to sign it and confirmed he had started legal action to repossess the ground.