A FORMER homeless footballer condemned Newham council  yesterday over its plans to evict mothers occupying the Carpenters Estate to make way for luxury flats.

Billy Wise, who was homeless until recently, was among Clapton FC players who took part in a solidarity match to raise morale of the Focus E15 mums at the estate on Monday.

Mr Wise told the Morning Star: “I don’t feel it’s right when you see new buildings being erected for no good reason when you’ve got somewhere like Carpenters Estate that’s already standing, it just needs renovating.

“The council would rather spend millions on building something new than renovating somewhere that families can move into. All the women who have come to the estate have said they will put the work in and do the place up, as long as they are going to put people in it.”

His comments came as the Labour-led council is seeking an interim possession order against the occupation at Bow County Court tomorrow. The mums are calling for supporters to show solidarity outside at 9.30am today.

Clapton’s famous anti-fascist ultra fans joined Mr Wise, the mums and their supporters for the game on Monday.

“We had a little game there in the cage round there by the Carpenters Estate,” said Mr Wise.

“It was a good little bit of fun, just something to brighten the mood because it can get a bit stressful for the mums.”

He added: “The government and the council have found an excuse to punish everyone and raise the costs of housing but they are handing out so little. What they are doing is forcing people to think that they have to move to Birmingham or

Manchester in order to have an affordable life.”

Mr Wise played for England in the 2012 Homeless World Cup finals in Mexico and coached the English men’s side at last year’s tournament in Poland.

He previously lived at the Focus E15 hostel, which also housed the mother and baby unit where the 29 mums began their campaign to be housed locally after the council decided to close the unit due to government cuts.

joegill@peoples-press.com