FC Hartlepool faced a complicated choice in December 2022. Their men's first team were enjoying an impressive season and promotion looked achievable but the players knew their form made little difference.
The club could not qualify for the Northern League without extensive upgrades to their Grayfields Enclosure home, having taken ownership from Hartlepool Borough Council the year before.
So they faced a dilemma: sacrifice promotion and raise funds over time, or transform their home - at that point, a pitch with a barrier - into a ground. They had seven months, and went for promotion.
"We've always played at council facilities," explains Club Secretary Chris Murray. "Even when we had good seasons there was no chance of us progressing, no possibility of us getting lights or stands.
"Once we got the keys to Grayfields, the plan was to develop it slowly. But that first season we did well and thought: 'We've got this opportunity, we’ve got to go for it.'"
To help achieve tight deadlines, FC Hartlepool applied to the Premier League Stadium Fund and were awarded three grants totalling more than £97,000.
This enabled them to meet the requirements for promotion by installing LED floodlights, a 63-seat stand and a pitch perimeter barrier.
The fund has provided more than £200 million in investment since 2000 as part of the League's support for football at all levels.
"It's unrecognisable from what it was even three or four years ago," Murray continues. "The whole feel around the club now is that we have a home."
The club, known locally as 'FC', with National League Hartlepool United playing a mile down the road, has grown beyond recognition since acquiring the lease to Grayfields.
In addition to a men's and women’s first team, they now boast 54 junior teams for almost 800 children, including several for girls. They also built a new bar and food outlet, and run a boot donation scheme for under-privileged young players.
"A successful first team brings in crowds," says club chair Salaam Shaheen, who has overseen many of these developments since joining in 2018. "Crowds bring in revenues which can be recycled and put back into the club, particularly into the junior section.
"Our facility was no where near the criteria for promotion, and there's only so many funds you can generate for things like floodlights and seated stands. It was really, really important for us that we could access the Premier League Stadium Fund. It would be impossible for us to be here without it."
To celebrate their recent success as part of the Premier League's 'More Than A Game' Trophy Tour, FC hosted the Premier League Trophy at their Northern League Division 2 fixture against Billingham Synthonia.
The Monday night match was made possible by Grayfields' floodlights, installed after a grant of almost £50,000.
The club has since held evening fixtures that continuously set new attendance records while local community teams use the facilities throughout the week.
Crowd numbers hit a new high when FC hosted neighbours Hartlepool United in a 2024 pre-season friendly.
Almost 1,500 fans turned out, more than tripling the club's record attendance.
For Terry Hill, manager for over a decade, FC's place in the Northern League - and their new community facilities - affects more than on-pitch success.
"It's been great," he says. "Not just for the club and our members, it's good for the town.
"A grant of £97,000 makes everything possible, opens doors, gives opportunity, and takes pressure off other parts of the club. That funding was for the first team and ground grading.
"Without it, we may have had to take from other pots that affect what we can put on, what we can subsidise for the kids' teams, and it makes it a lot easier for me to attract players. It makes it all possible, to be honest. It’s been fantastic for us."
More than six years after taking over as Chair, Salaam Shaheen rarely has time to reflect on what he and the club have achieved. Taking a moment to do so, he says: "The club is a true inspiration for these kids - and I'm getting a little emotional saying it. We’re so, so proud of what we’ve managed to achieve over at Grayfields.
"And I’ll stress it again: without the support of the Premier League Stadium Fund, we could not get there. It would not be possible."
