The trustees of Broomwade Sports and Social Club yesterday offered the owners of their ground £5,000, pretty well all they've got in the bank, to secure the club's future. The bid was made as Tesco emerged as the decision makers who will determine the Wycombe club's continued existence.

Former employees of the now defunct CompAir-Broomwade factory in Hughenden Avenue, High Wycombe have played football, cricket, tennis and bowls at the club in Hughenden Park since the land was gifted to them by Disraeli's heirs.

BroomWade founder Harry Wade negotiated the deal when the Manor and the park were given to the National Trust. "He simply walked up the road and asked can I have a piece of your land as a sports club for my factory workers and the answer was yes.'"

But now the playing fields and clubhouse, built as the result of the philanthropy of the Victorian prime minister's family, could be lost to those they were intended for. It's the latest twist in a complicated saga.

Two weeks ago, most of the 16-acre CompAir/BroomWade factory site a quarter of a mile up the road from the BroomWade ground was sold to Wycombe District Council for a new sports centre.

Buckinghamshire Chiltern University College still owns three acres at the northern end, dating back to the time a year or two ago when the college acquired the Compair/ BroomWade buildings with the intention of knocking them down and establishing a 21st century university there. BCUC bought the site with Tesco money because the supermarket was planning to build a new store on the college campus. But then the college changed its mind and decided to enlarge its present town centre site instead and all bets were off.

The question the sports club bosses was asking this week, following the most recent sale of most of the site to the council, was, where does this leave us? Are we owned by the council or the college and Tesco?

Council spokesman Catherine Spalton confirmed: "The sports ground wasn't on offer to us. It didn't form any part of our objective."

Furious Mervyn Wallen, general manager of the sports club and one of three trustees, says they weren't told the sale of the factory to the council had gone through until last Thursday, a fortnight after it happened.

He insists: "We should have been consulted. In 2002, we weren't told until after the event that the sports ground had been included in the sale when CompAir sold the business to Alchemy (a venture capital company). We were very angry. They should have handed us a separate lease. How can you arrange fixtures for next season when you don't know if the club will still exist?"

Because of the latest uncertainty, he and his fellow trustees have instructed solicitors to apply for right of tenure.

"We've been here since Methusalah was a boy. I'd like to declare squatters rights and they can go to hell," declared Mr Wallen.

He added: "To underline the contribution we make to the community and to charity, we've granted corporate membership to the Sherwood Forresters and the Lions and they've brought into membership Hughenden Valley Boys Football Club. Twelve boys clubs play here. Every year we have a fun day for handicapped kids. Last weekend the nurses from Wycombe Hospital were here.

"This latest news was an absolute bombshell."

Informed sources told the Free Press yesterday that the club ground is still owned by BCUC, albeit that the university's holding is funded by Tesco which has a mortgage on the site.

Councillor Hugh McCarthy, cabinet member for planning and sustainability, has assured Mr Wallen that it will remain a sports ground. "It's in the council's strategy plan for the future of the district. It's identified as a sports ground in the planning policy," the councillor told the Free Press. "The council wouldn't allow a square foot of concrete to be laid on it."

Yesterday Mervyn Wallen made a direct appeal to Tesco to grant the club a lease. "We've got £6,000 in our account," he said. "They can have a cheque for £5,000 by the end of the week if they'll give us the ground."