Brighton and Hove Albion have been forced to put plans for Falmer stadium on hold for one year in the wake of Lewes District Council's legal challenge.

The agonising delay to the forecasted building schedule is expected to cost the club more than £50,000 a week in lost revenue - money which should have been generated through ticket sales and other business from the moment the £50 million stadium opened its doors.

Brighton and Hove Albion's chief executive Martin Perry and chairman Dick Knight, speaking exclusively to The Argus, last night revealed there was no way the stadium could be up and running by the planned 2008 deadline.

Mr Knight blamed Lewes's "elitism and snobbery" against the city of Brighton for bringing the legal challenge which has led to the devastating delay to the club's plans.

Fans said forcing a delay was a deliberate tactic by anti-stadium campaigners who were hoping to destroy the club.

Brighton Kemp Town MP Des Turner said: "It is a worry. This is news we were all afraid of and presumably it is what the bringers of the Judicial Review were aiming for.

"I do not think they will be successful in overturning the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's decision but the delays will be crucial for the club.

"The club is living on a wing and a prayer and I imagine every year they are not in a new stadium they will be sinking into the red."

The two Albion bosses revealed they were now facing up to the fact the stadium would not be ready until the 2009-10 season at the earliest - depending on the outcome of a High Court hearing into John Prescott's decision to grant planning permission to the scheme.

They are basing their new forecast on a swift outcome to the controversial legal challenge brought by Lewes District Council in November but admitted the club could be put out of business if anti-stadium campaigners managed to delay the process for years rather than months.

A date for the hearing has not been set but it is expected to be held sometime in the summer and the Seagulls optimistically hope it would be over in a matter of days.

The club cannot go ahead with its development plans until it knows the outcome of the case, which is also expected to cost the club £75,000 to £90,000 in legal fees, so it is now working to the new opening deadline 12 months later than planned.

Lost revenue is a major blow to the Seagulls' business plan as it had expected to generate up to £3 million in the first 12 months of the stadium opening.

Mr Perry said the whole legal process was pointless because the decision would ultimately end up back with John Prescott if the district council won its case and the deputy prime minister is unlikely to change his mind. Mr Perry said: "So the only impact of this whole exercise is delay and Lewes know that. You have to ask the question - is their aim to put the club out of business?"

Mr Knight blasted the council for acting against the interests of its constituents and the Sussex community at large.

He said: "This is all about the county town old-money snobbery against the seaside city of Brighton. They don't understand the benefits this stadium would bring to the whole community, including their own."