Stockport County against Sale Sharks returning to Edgeley Park

Stockport County have moved to calm fears among their supporters that Aviva Premiership side Sale Sharks could be moving back to Edgeley Park.

Sale spent nearly a decade sharing Stockport's home stadium before moving to the AJ Bell Stadium in 2012 to share with Super League side Salford Red Devils.

The Sharks have now set their sights on a new stadium, having failed in a bid to buy the AJ Bell Stadium last year, but recent comments from co-owner Simon Orange opened up the possibility of a return to Stockport, who now play in National League North.

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A Stockport statement read: "As a board, we were clearly disappointed to see the news report on Friday evening which mentioned the 'active possibility' of the rugby club returning to Edgeley Park, without any prior consultation with ourselves. This has created a great deal of concern and negativity among our supporters.

"We have been in contact with Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (SMBC, our landlords) and reiterated our intention that we are keen to progress to an arrangement whereby we (SCFC) can purchase Edgeley Park back from the Council.

"Once again, SMBC reconfirmed their support for that ambition and we have also been assured by the Council that any discussions about the future of the stadium will be with us.

"We have also made it clear that there is no appetite for any ground sharing arrangement with a rugby club."

Stockport director Steve Bellis added: "We have a strong relationship with the Council and we are working together towards a number of mutually beneficial aims including the reacquisition of Edgeley Park by the club, but also how we can pool our resources to deliver extra benefits to the community.

"We are keen to repeat the many successes we achieved together through various community projects as we did throughout the 1990s in particular, winning national awards on several occasions for our innovative projects."