WITTON Albion have agreed that Northwich Victoria can play their home games at Wincham Park from next season.

The two clubs announced a ground-share arrangement, proposed to last for the next three years, in a joint statement issued on Tuesday.

“Vics have found the time spent away from their home town extremely difficult and are more than ready to return,” it reads.

“Witton have made that possible again for the foreseeable future.”

Vics last hosted an opponent in Northwich in January 2012, their final game at the Victoria Stadium.

They have played for the past two seasons at Valley Road, in Flixton, following a year as tenants of Stafford Rangers.

Witton confirmed in October they were considering a deal to share their pitch with another club.

At the time, they said it would bring in money they could use to sustain a side in the Northern Premier League’s top flight.

“It makes total sense for competing clubs to share facilities, providing the arrangement works for both parties – especially financially,” said Albion chairman Mark Harris.

“This agreement provides a sound basis on which to build the revenue necessary to invest in both the team and the stadium.

“We haven’t entered into this lightly; we’ve carefully evaluated the ramifications in terms of extra workload for our volunteers.

“We’ve also built in the necessary safeguards to protect the additional revenue the ground-share brings.”

Witton have already played landlord to a tenant at their Wincham home.

Then neighbours Vics played there for three years from 2002 following the sale of the Drill Field.

They then moved to the Victoria Stadium nearby when it opened in 2005.

Northwich signed another ground-share deal with Albion in 2011, only to be fined for refusing to play a game there.

Runcorn Linnets spent four seasons with Witton between 2006 and 2010 following their formation, returning to town when the Millbank Linnets Stadium was ready.

The Northern Premier League’s management committee sanctioned the latest arrangement at their most recent meeting.

“We’ve a history of successful ground-shares so we know they can work,” added Harris.