A HALESOWEN Town chief have bemoaned West Midlands Police for not yet meeting with the football club after their ground was targeted by thieves.

The Yeltz press box was broken into on Tuesday (May 29), with the culprits forcing their way in through windows to steal the mixing desk and microphone.

Police were made aware of the burglary at 6pm that evening but will not be meeting with the club until this weekend.

However, Town's general manager Neil Broughton described the delay between the incident and the police attending the scene as “disappointing”.

He told the News: “We were expecting them to come out on Tuesday but they didn’t, and because of that, we still don’t have a crime reference number which we need to be able to claim for the damages on our insurance.”

Mr Broughton believes the culprits used a fence post to force the windows out from the frame before making off with the equipment.

“The windows – which we only had fitted last year – aren’t actually glass but Perspex,” he said. “So if you hit them with an object like a hammer it would just bounce straight off. They’ve had to damage the frame to get the windows out.

“They’ve already been secured. We have a great core bunch of volunteers who came straight down after we found out on Tuesday night to help out.

“Luckily the mixing desk and microphone aren’t the most expensive, top of the range pieces of equipment, but they are quite new – I think we only bought the microphone this year – so it is still an unnecessary cost which the club could’ve done without.

“But we will have to replace them soon as they’re needed for a couple of end of season events we have coming up this week.”

Club president Colin Brookes said it’s not the first time the club has experienced a burglary, adding: “It’s one of those things local football clubs have to deal with.”

He said: “It’s shocking really. We’ve got one of the best press boxes in the league. Paul who does the announcements and his wife make sure the press are really well looked after.

“But unfortunately it’s not the first time this has happened. There have been two or three incidents like this in the past couple of years.”

Mr Broughton added: “It’s not just happening at Halesowen Town.

“I know Lye were broken into last year and Stourbridge have been hit a couple of times recently, but I don’t know whether they are related or if it’s the same gang who are targeting local football clubs.

“We have CCTV in the ground, but unfortunately it doesn’t cover everywhere and the press box was one of those places – but we’re going to invest in more cameras so it soon will be.”

Police have confirmed that no arrests have yet been made and investigations are still on-going., while anyone with information should call 101, quoting log number 2138.