Essex University’s estates manager Andrew Night-ingale appears to have little in common with footballers Ashley Cole and John Terry.

And yet, in Wivenhoe at least, he seems to be coming in for as much stick as the two much-maligned Chelsea defenders.

Mr Nightingale is chairman of the Wivenhoe and District Sporting Facilities Trust. He owes his unexpected notoriety to a decision by the organisation to expel Wivenhoe Town Football Club from its home ground over alleged non-payment of rent.

In the weeks since the padlocks were changed at Broad Lane, on March 9, the trust’s members have been characterised as “bullies” and “a mafia”.

Now the club is back at the stadium after getting a court injunction, but the acrimony has continued.

Mr Nightingale was personally accused of using his position to secure Broad Lane as an extra sporting facility for the university, and with wrongly using university workmen to help seize control of the ground.

Wivenhoe Town supporters even claimed the trust had failed to account for a £16,000 donation from yoghurt company Yakult, a charge it later responded to by explaining exactly how the cash was spent.

In an interview with the Gazette, Mr Nightingale hit back at each of the claims against the trust, and explained why the organisation is sticking to its guns over its stewardship of Broad Lane.

Q. Wivenhoe Town FC and Colchester Council’s councillor responsible for leisure, Martin Hunt, have said they are happy to hold talks to find a resolution to the dispute. Why is the trust the only party holding out?

A. Going back 18 months, we have been talking to various people involved. It is not for want of trying on our part to get a resolution. But now we have terminated our agreement with the club.

There are serious health and safety issues at Broad Lane. As we have said before, the electrical boxes were unlocked, asbestos boards were found abandoned and there was a container of weed killer lying around which kids could have picked up.

As soon as we saw that, and with regard to the agreement, we lost any faith we had.

The club haven’t been complying with the whole principle of what the site is about, despite their protestations. The trustees don’t have any faith.

Q. Wivenhoe Town say they have potential backers who want to put money into Broad Lane, but they need a lease to guarantee the club’s status as tenant, to make sure their investment is not wasted. Why can’t the trust give the club a lease?

A. The agreement the club had was satisfactory for when the team was playing at a higher level in the Ryman League, two years ago.

The league was quite happy the club had a secure home and I don’t know what’s changed subsequently.

We have always said our current lease doesn’t allow us to sub-let, but we could ask the landowner, Colchester Council, for a “deed of variation”, which would effectively provide the club with a lease.

It can be delivered and we would be more than happy to meet with any investor, but we would like to see what it is proposing to do.

We want to make sure it would not just be investing money in players for the team, rather than on the facilities. We want to understand why the club is not bringing this investor to us.

Q. A tenant in a house expects his landlord to pay for the upkeep of the property and make any repairs which are required. But the trust says its tenant, Wivenhoe Town, should be responsible for looking after the Broad Lane ground. What do the club get in return for their money?

A. Under the agreement which was breached, Wivenhoe Town were paying a contribution to rent of £3,800 a year.

As the trust is a charity, the club benefits from a 90 per cent rate relief, which is worth nearly £3,400 a year.

In return, the club gets a floodlit football pitch, with a stand and clubhouse, plus all the income the clubhouse generates.

Any commercial organisation would be delighted to have such a facility at that price, and we have already got five organisations interested in it. That’s the agreement. To look after the ground in return for using it.

Q. Was it right to instruct Essex University workers to help change the locks at Broad Lane?

A. I am a member of the trust because a university football team is one of the users of the ground. I certainly wouldn’t be getting involved in all this if it wasn’t for my job here.

Was there to be an accident or health and safety problem at the ground, it would reflect on the trust and by extension on the university.

I got consent to take some people with me when we went to inspect the stadium, including an electrician, as I was not sure what condition we would find it in.

Q. What is your message to Wivenhoe Town’s playing and coaching staff and fans?

A. I would like the coaching staff and supporters, who have the best interests of the club at heart, to look at the facts.

I am more than happy to speak to those supporters. We are not hiding away, we are very accessible. They need to see a little bit beyond what they are being told in certain quarters and look at the track record of what the trustees have achieved.

We built tennis courts at Broad Lane, which cost about £130,000 in total, using a lottery grant, and we have spent £4,000 or £5,000 stabilising the car park area.