A CHEF yesterday told a tribunal how Wrexham FC couldn't even afford to pay the butcher as the club fell deeper into financial crisis.

Former Colliers Park training ground cook Ieuan Jones said the Dragons couldn't pay their players.

He doubled as a voluntary toilet and shower cleaner to try to help the club make ends meet in 2003.

Although players paid £10 a week for food, cash to feed them dried up, leaving little on their plates, the Shrewsbury employment tribunal heard.

Butchers' bills went unpaid and 55-year-old Mr Jones found himself dipping into his own pocket to feed footballers and managers to the tune of nearly £190.

With players' complaints and pressure rising to slash the menu, Mr Jones went off sick at the start of 2004 with stress only to find himself short-changed by the cash-strapped club over his sick pay.

With no sign of financial compensation or support, Mr Jones - now City Arms landlord, in Minera, near Wrexham - told the tribunal he had no choice but to resign last summer.

Yesterday he took the club to the employment tribunal claiming constructive dismissal, breach of contract, and unlawful deduction of wages.

The tribunal found in his favour and awarded the 55-year-old, who worked for the club for seven years, a total of nearly £ 6,000 in damages and compensation.

Mr Jones said: "Money was being taken out of players' wages for the food, but we weren't getting the money. They were penny-pinching here, there and everywhere.

"At a home game over the Christmas period, I went to the butchers to pick up food to feed the directors but the butcher said to me he hadn't been paid and wasn't going to keep food for me."

Mr Jones said players were complaining and club bosses weren't helping. He doubled as a toilet and shower cleaner after a cleaning agency stopped working for the club. He became stressed and fell ill.

Mr Jones was told because of the size of the club's debts and being in administration, it was unlikely it would be able to pay.

He was advised to seek compensation through the Redundancy Payment Service.

Speaking after the judgment, he said: "I was always able to get something for them to eat. But sometimes it might just be a bowl of soup or pasta dish.

"If I get just half of what they awarded, I will be happy. I was only asking for what I was entitled to after seven years of loyal service."