TURTON FC are bracing themselves for judgement day which will shape their Premier League fate.

It is a month since Thomasson Fold officials were rocked by news after league officials informed them only one team (Fulwood Amateurs) would be promoted to the Premier Division instead of two.

It comes after West Lancashire League sides were told at their annual general meeting last June that improvements to grounds had to be completed by March 31 this year.

But, Turton have appealed the decision and an independent FA chairman will officiate the hearing tomorrow morning involving West Lancashire Football League officials and representatives from Turton.

Peter Gray will be joined by Graham Bean, FA Compliance Officer who helps grassroots club investigate problems with rules.

Gray believes they head into the meeting knowing they need the decisions they want now to prepare for the next campaign.

He said: "We have been waiting and holding on since the end of the season and cannot start planning.

"The day will either be an opportunity to finally celebrate our efforts or take stock and take the next step as we could be going to appeal it further.

"Graham thinks we have a strong arguments and we are confident we can get a result.

"If we get that positive result then it will allow us to keep progressing on the targets we have been made year by year and suceeding."

Turton received £87,000 in grants to improve their facilities during the close-season but despite telling league officials work would be completed in time for next season the league has decided they must continue in Division One next season.

Club officials argued work could not take place during the season to meet the deadline as it would have involved moving heavy machinery on to the playing surface which would have damaged the pitch and led to matches being called off.

Work continues to take place on site and club officials expect all the work to be completed before the new season.

In a recent shock development last week West Lancashire League officials have decided to put back the deadline for the 2015-16 season to April 30 rather than March 31 next year at their recent AGM.

The decision means the league bosses have extended the date for ground grading past the national FA guidelines.

Gray said: "I attended the meeting and I asked them if that meant they were ignoring national dates and they agreed they were giving clubs an extra month to do work to pitches.

"This means they are willing to extend it for the following season but not for ours which we think is outrageous.

"Also at the meeting they mentioned that if we won the appeal then Thornton Cleveleys would be relegated from the Premier Division – which I am sure they are not happy about.

"They confirmed they had visited our ground and that it looked impressive so we don't know why we cannot just go up."