Crisis club Hounslow Borough sensationally withdrew from the Sport Italia Hellenic League this week as a mass of debts forced them to fold.

Chairman Stefan Poulos revealed: "It's the end for us. The Middlesex FA suspended us for the third time on Monday because our fines had still not been paid. We owed them £1,270 and the Hellenic League £1,716, including almost £450 in fines, fees and expenses for not fulfilling our fixture at Almondsbury last month.

"We had 10 home games still to play which would have cost us £322 each in ground hire from Bedfont and match officials fees of £97 so that would have totalled another £3,220. Raising a total of more than £6,000 was beyond us."

Poulos, 63, an Isleworth mortgage adviser, added: "A sponsor had agreed to give the Middlesex FA £1,270 but the cheque was then stopped and we found ourselves suspended again. The most we could raise was a bank loan of £3,5000 against our treasurer Fred Hatfield's house, but the debts had zoomed out of control."

The club's players have now been suspended until the debt to the Middlesex FA is paid, but the position of manager Dennis Bainborough is unclear. Bainborough, 56, a former youth team manager at Millwall, said: "The FA have told me I am not under suspension, but I am gutted for the players. Under Stefan Poulos and John Davis, who was acting chairman during the two months before Poulos returned after quitting in January, the club has gone down the pan this season.

"I am so annoyed after taking the club into the Premier Division as champions last season to see all the hard work go to waste. The club's demise is mainly down to bad organisation."

Next-to-bottom Hounslow, who had had a point deducted because their assistant manager Carlton Mitchell was in the dug out at Shrivenham in his capacity as physio while he was suspended as a player, had lost 1-0 at home to Carterton last Saturday, but did not fulfill their home fixture with leaders North Leigh on Wednesday.

Poulos, who founded the club 20 years ago as a youth team called Osterley Park Rangers, stressed: "It is heart-breaking. During the two months I was away fines were incurred and when they were not paid they were doubled and then doubled again. I don't intend to reform the club - my health is not good and it has put me under a lot of pressure. I have told the League I will pay them £2,500 to cover the debt to them, including a fine of £800 for withdrawing before the end of the season."

Procedures are being undertaken by the Hellenic League to expunge the record of the club from the Premier Division with all results and points being deleted.