Abandoned football stadium in the heart of London has become wasteland after being left to rot since 2011

Images of an abandoned football stadium in London show the brutal reality for some clubs competing in modern football.

In recent years it has become more and more clear that running a football club is a significant financial challenge for almost any club in English football.

Clubs like Macclesfield Town, Chester City and Telford United have all folded under the financial pressures of running a club in England, with dozens of others entering administration in the past decade.

And one constant reminder of this fact, is an abandoned stadium that lies in East London which has been left in ruin after the club ceased to exist over ten years ago.

Leyton FC played at the Leyton Football Club stadium for 143 years but were forced to vacate it after the club disbanded in 2011 due to severe financial difficulties.

The once full stadium now lies empty, with seats destroyed, football nets rotting and overgrown nature reclaiming large sections of the pitch and stands.

Leyton FC began to struggle financially in 2009 when club chairman Costas Sophocleous and ex-director Philip Foster both pleaded guilty to parts in a £16million VAT fraud.

Then, in January 2011, Leyton FC were temporarily, and later fully withdrawn, from Isthmian League Division One North after they failed to pay their league subscription.

Therefore, with no fixtures coming up, many of the clubs players and staff, including the new chairman, all left the club and it eventually ceased to exist.

Fans attempted to create a phoenix side following Leyton’s disbandment but it ultimately, none of them survived, leaving the 4,000 capacity stadium deserted.

Six years after it’s disbandment, a group of Dutch investors made another attempt to revive the club under the name Leyton 1868 FC but, despite organising several behind closed doors friendlies, by the end of the year the project was abandoned.

Unfortunately, the Leyton stadium is just one of many abandoned football stadiums across the UK with Rotherham’s Millmoor and Scarborough’s McCain Stadium two other examples of stadiums that now lie deserted.