STOURBRIDGE’S War Memorial Ground was broken into overnight on Monday (October 24), with thieves smashing windows and doors just to take a single bottle of spirits from the club’s bar.

West Midlands Police were called to Stourbridge FC’s ground just after midnight on Tuesday morning after the club’s alarms were sounded by the intruders.

Recently installed CCTV has picked up footage of two people breaking into the club through a side window, before making off with the bottle.

Andy Pountney, the football club’s chairman, said: “They have damaged the windows, doors and the roller shutters before getting into the bar, where they also damaged the till and some of the bottles.

“They took one bottle of Bells whiskey – one of those big one gallon bottles – but apart from that it was a pretty pointless burglary.

“Our new alarm system, which we had installed after we were last broken into a few months ago, went off and they absconded pretty quickly after that.”

This is the fourth time the club has been broken into in the past year, with this week’s incident bearing a startling resemblance to the previous burglary at the ground in August.

Mr Pountney added: “It is sad that individuals result to this kind of behaviour, especially at a place that is trying to do something good for the community.

“We have spent thousands of pounds on the club, bringing it up to a very good standard, so it’s just disappointing that certain people would want to cause so much grief.

“Unfortunately, it’s more costs for the club but we will try and get it all fixed up, get the major repairs done to the doors and windows, as soon as we can.

“I’ve not seen the CCTV footage myself, but we’ve left it in the police’s hands and hopefully it will be a big help in catching the thieves who did it.”

A West Midlands Police spokeswoman said an investigation into the burglary is ongoing.