TWO private business consortia will battle it out in a bid to secure the future of Stockport County Football Club.
The two parties - one led by Lord Peter Snape, a lifelong County fan, and the other by former managing director Mark Maguire - are set to lock horns over ownership of the Edgeley Park League One side.
Speaking exclusively to the Stockport Express, Lord Snape said: "I am a lifelong fan of County, as was my father, and he would turn in his grave if he thought County was faced with going out of existence.
"The truth is County has no assets, so it is more likely to go into liquidation. That would mean the club would go out of the Football League, and its proud sporting record would disappear.
"That is too horrendous to contemplate, and that is why I have put this consortium together."
The Snape consortium includes former County chairman of 20 years, Brendan Elwood.
He told the Express: "I am very sympathetic to Lord Snape, and when I met him last week, I came away with the impression he can put the right people in place, and I offered him my support 100 percent.
Ownership
"I am not trying to be controversial, but there is nobody in their right mind who would have signed that lease with Mr Kennedy.
"It meant that the club was totally reliant on its gate receipts and what the members could raise just to survive. This has to be one of the first things which are renegotiated with Mr Kennedy."
Lord Snape added: "We now call upon the Stockport County Trust to vote to relinquish ownership of the club and the current Stockport County board to resign when ownership has been relinquished.
"We are prepared to see the trust elect one of their members to any new board."
Mark Maguire said rumours circulating the club about his handling of the financial crisis had been untrue, and he was in the process of finalising a rival financial buyout.
He explained: "I resigned because my position had become untenable. Since then lots of things have been said about my handling of financial affairs and my working relationship with Jim Gannon, all are untrue. However, I had reached the stage where I had to put up or to shut up.
"I have put forward a credible business plan. This is not about Mark Maguire, this is about putting forward a solution for the club’s future."
Manager Gannon added: "Trusts only walk into clubs because clubs have been left in ruin. The gentlemen came in and took over, but they haven’t got a ground, they haven’t got any income, everything had been drained away.
"We’ve worked hard to try and create something with limited funds and it’s been difficult. The Trust does still have a big part to play because the fans are a big part of any club."
Lord Snape leads bid for County
March 04, 2009
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Whichever way the club goes, its got to be a better option than the Trust. The well meaning members have done all they can to keep the club going and provide Jim with the quality of players he needs to challenge in Div.1. Unfortunatly the structure has collapsed, and the mounting debts has seen top young players allowed to leave to give the finances a quick fix. Before its too late lets see a new ownership in control and lets get life back into the club by removing the shadow which has been cast over EP in recent weeks.
As Mr. Elwood quite rightly states, the first thing we have to do is loosen the noose that is BrianKennedy/Cheshire Sport, only then can we begin to move forward.
I have always liked the Elwood family and admired Peter Snape, so for me they would be the dream ticket: between them providing a strong financial backbone and a deep rooted love for the club. Dont know anything about the Maguire group and Im not saying thery would offer any less, my comments are based on my personal history.
elwood was the man that sold the club, originally so the blame should be at his door
Do the fans get a vote on this???