A JUNIOR football club has vowed to fight back after raiders broke into their clubhouse and ‘tried to set it on fire’.

Radcliffe Borough Juniors FC, which is based at Close Park, was targeted by two yobs, who were captured on CCTV.

Staff discovered the break-in when they arrived to set up for a junior game of football at about 7.45am on Saturday.

The raid has been reported to Greater Manchester Police.

Carol Nicholson, welfare officer, said: “On Saturday morning the tears were not far away. We were feeling very low. What they have done is totally incomprehensible.

"We are a local club that has been going for more than 50 years and children are at the heart of what we do. People should want to help us not destroy our club. I do not understand the mentality."

Two young people, wearing rucksacks, were captured on CCTV at about 2.20am on Saturday.

They forced entry into the cafe, ransacked the kitchen area, stole a charity box and stole packs of bacon that had been defrosting ready for bacon butties that morning.

Mrs Nicholson said: "I don’t think these people were trying to steal anything. I think they were aiming to burn the place down.

“The stole stupid things. They put a can of spray adhesive in the microwave and set it going. It was bleeping when we arrived.

“They had turned our cooking griddle on full blast. The liquid glue could have caused an explosion.”

Forensics attended the site on Saturday morning to collect evidence.

Radcliffe Borough Juniors FC is a junior football team that was established in 1987. It has 26 teams, and is currently used by more than 300 children aged four to 17.

Mrs Nicholson said: "When the kids turned up to play on Saturday, they just got on with it. They are the reason we had to pick ourselves up.

"We sent people out to get bacon and others swept up the mess.

"By 9.30am, the world would not have noticed anything had gone wrong. You have to come back fighting."

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.