FANS INVITED TO HEAR BORO BUYOUT PLAN

NUNEATON Borough Supporters Co-operative are inviting people to hear how they plan to buy the club as the battle to secure the future of the town’s team continues.

It is their ‘Plan B’ option after an attempt to form a consortium with ‘interested’ local parties failed.

Members of Nuneaton Borough Supporters Cooperative (NBSC) say they will outline their plans in a public forum, which is being held next week and is open to anyone to go along.

It was after the team’s last game of the season that Lee Thorn, the club’s chairman, announced that he would be selling the club and the ground.

Since then the NBSC has tried to bring together interested parties in a bid to form a consortium to buy both but this did not come off, so now they say they will concentrate on the club only.

“The board of the Cooperative would like to take this chance to clarify their status and to invite all interested parties to an open meeting where we will be available to take questions on our role in the future of Nuneaton Borough,” said a NBSC spokesperson.

“At this point, there are a number of options still open to us, however we believe this option is the best way to secure the safety and validity of the football club in the short term.

“We have invited Lee Thorn to meet with us to purchase the football club only. Also present at that meeting would be an official from Supporters’ Direct (SD) who would be there to aid us, and also carry out a preliminary financial overview of the club. This offer to Lee has no expiry date, other than new owners coming in, or the club ceasing to exist. He is free to take us up on this at any time.

“Upon acceptance of the terms by both us and Lee, a thorough due diligence would be entered into by SD so we completely understand the liabilities of the club.

“Once that is cleared we would take ownership of the club and launch a community share order which would allow people like yourselves to buy into the club .

“Other revenue streams would include sponsorship, season tickets, gate receipts and so forth. The fee for the football club alone is not prohibitive and Mr Thorn is well aware we can meet that.

“We know many people have questions about the club and therefore our next meeting will be an open forum where we will make a brief presentation outlining any developments, before opening the floor to questions.

“This is your chance to find out how you can play a part.”

The spokesperson concluded: “The board of the Co-op are not buying the club for the Co-op, this is merely a vehicle for the fans to have representation, a notion that sometimes gets overlooked.”

If the NBSC does buy the club , there is still the outstanding issue of the sale of the ground too, which is crucial to the running of the club.

The public forum is being held on Wednesday, May 30th, at 7.30 pm at Coton Sports and Social Club, aka, The Lib.