For Richard Nott, Braintree Town is more than a just football club.

Staff and fans from the club have gone out of their way to help Richard, 33, who is autistic.

So much so he has become one of the most recognisable faces at the club’s Cressing Road ground.

He visits almost every day, and has even been appointed assistant kit man for the first team.

But with the club’s future uncertain due to Braintree Council’s local plan proposals, Richard fears what is the most important thing in his life might be torn apart.

He said: “If this club goes out of business it would be like losing part of me.

“Ever since I was a kid I have wanted to be involved in football, either playing or helping out like this.

“It is a massive achievement for me and I want to carry on doing it for a long time to come.

“I want to be involved with the club until I am old enough to retire.”

Richard, who works part-time at Tesco in Great Notley, first fell in love with the beautiful game at the age of eight.

He was taken to a Nottingham Forest reserve game while he was at boarding school in Nottinghamshire where he and his family used to live.

However in 2002, when the Nott’s moved to Braintree, his obsession really started to take off.

Christine Nott, Richard’s mother, said: “It all started with my brother Reggie, he knew about Braintree Town Football Club and started taking Richard up there on matchdays.”

Richard was hooked and he started going more and more. Not just on matchdays but during the week, in the evenings and whenever he had time.

Braintree Town has come to represent a social life for Richard, one his mum fears he may not have were the club to cease to exist.

Christine said: “We were very worried about him at first but everyone realised he needed support and accepted him for who he is.

“The people really look after him and they have been so supportive.

“It is had made a tremendous difference to how he is when you compare him now to how he used to be.

“The confidence he has now is amazing.

“I do not know what there would be for him without the club.”

Richard has, like all Braintree Town supporters, followed the club through the highs and lows of recent years, but he still holds high ambitions for the club to achieve.

He said: “Making the play-offs for the football league when we had the Cowley brothers as managers was a special moment for me.

“I want to see the club get into the football league because it would be the greatest achievement for everyone involved with Braintree Town.

“I am very confident we can get into the football league and I want to see it happen for the first time.”

In July Braintree Town chairman Lee Harding told The Times the club could fold by 2022 when the lease runs out.

The site of Braintree Town Football Club’s training facilities has been allocated for housing in the plan, a move that could leave the club homeless.

The club have been searching for a new home since 2004, with several previous proposals collapsing.

And Christine feels the situation hanging over the club is starting to have an affect on Richard’s life.

She said: “In my opinion the council should be doing everything it can to support and help the club.

“I have seen a change in him since the problems started and it is upsetting to see him like this.

“He has not been himself lately which I know is because of the worries surrounding the club.

“Most of his life revolves around Braintree Town Football Club.”

And she is right. Richard can roll off a list of his favourite players since 2002, and can probably tell you where their career has taken them after they left The Iron as well.

Alex Woodyard, Michael Cheek and current manager Bradley Quinton are a few of his all time favourites. While 12-goal striker Philip Roberts is his favourite member of the promotion chasing squad this year.

When he was younger he wanted to be a professional footballer and while he might have never quite achieved that dream, he now has an important role in the team that he loves - something he says he cannot bear to lose.

Richard said: “Football for me is about passionate support and it is about respect.

“People at the club have given me respect. If Braintree Town folded I could go to another club - but it would not be the same.”