THE exile is over for Waltham Forest FC with a new deal to return home at last.

The Stags have secured a ten-year lease on their old ground at Wadham Lodge.

The deal has been done with a firm called Matchday Centres, which now controls the complex in Wadham Road.

This brings to an end a two-season long banishment for Forest, which began in 2008.

The club were forced to leave the Lodge and quit the borough, to move in with Ilford FC in Redbridge.

So the news this week has been greeted with joy by fans and club staff.

Club secretary Andy Perkins told Guardian Series Sport: “I’m very happy indeed that we are going home.

“Our place here in the borough goes back to 1868, and we think that every borough should have a club.

“If we had not come home then we would not have lasted much longer,” he said.

“We have a chairman who wants to take the club forward, but no money is coming in.

“Now we can draw more fans and hopefully get some money in.

“Ilford FC were very good to us, but the place was like a graveyard,” he added. “We were on the edge of town and few people came to see us.”

One fan wrote on the club messageboard: "Great news. Well done to all the committee and chairman Isaac Johnson for negotiating our return. Now we can concentrate on moving the club upwards, both on and off the field."

Matchday Centres director Jason Maguire told Guardian Series Sport that Forest are the cornerstone of a new strategy at the Lodge.

The firm hopes to do 'what the FA should be doing' and help to develop football stars of the future, he said.

Matchday Centres has a £2m scheme for four small-size pitches, one full-size pitch and state-of-the-art facilities, all for local junior clubs to use for training.

“Waltham Forest FC wanted to come back, and as far as we were concerned it is important to have a local non-league team here,” said Maguire.

What is needed now is for Waltham Forest council planning committee to approve the project.

In the meantime, the race is on to complete work on the ground.

That is because the Ryman League Division One North season kicks off next month And non-league officials must approve the pitch and facilities in an inspection before that.

League will not take place there if they are unimpressed.

A Ryman League spokesman has warned that it is “a possibility” that will happen.

“It would be unfair on clubs which do maintain their grounds otherwise,” he said.

“But we are not looking to trip them up for the sake of it.”

It is understood that floodlights at the ground are one feature in the spotlight.

Perkins added: “It could be a little bit difficult, because of the building work going on there at the moment.

“It is meant to end two weeks after the start of the new season. The ground would not pass today because of the work. They will set a date for us.”

A delay in the return of Forest to the site is undesirable, but not a disaster.

Other options are available, such as playing the first two games away from home.

However, one of those games is an FA Cup match, in which home advantage could be crucial.

But at present the main thing for Forest is to be back from exile, a nomad club no more.