Manhattan-based businessman Mike Newton has ended his interest in investing in the club.
The 40-year-old hedge fund trader had made a formal approach to takeover the League Two side earlier this month but has now decided to back down after reviewing the state of the club’s finances.
The Hatters look increasingly likely to drop out of the Football League with Ray Mathias’ side lying five points from safety with eight games to go – having played five games more than Burton Albion who sit directly above the drop-zone.
But Gibbons, who took over as temporary chairman as part of the 2015 group who saved County from liquidation last summer, insists the club is not relying on fresh investment to secure its future.
She said: “We are always looking for fresh investment and judge each approach on its own merits but plans are already in place for next season, whether that be in the Football League or the Blue Square Premier.
“This club needs to remain a full-time football club and there is no reason why that can’t happen and we have already budgeted to remain a full-time club should we go down.
“People are concerned about administration as it’s happened before but we have a group of shareholders already in place who are able to carry on running the club without needing to take such measures.
“Things are very tight at Stockport County at the moment but every other club in the country would probably tell you the same thing.
“We entered into negotiations with Mike Newton but, unfortunately, he decided he didn’t wish to invest.
“The most important thing is that we make sure any investment is for the good of the club and we won’t rush in to any deal which doesn’t have the best interests of Stockport County at heart.
“You get used to false dawns in football but we were never taking anything for granted and in terms of the running of the club we don’t take any investment into account until the right person has signed on the dotted line.”
Stoke-on-Trent-born Newton, who previously sat on the board at Oldham Athletic, had failed with a £500,000 takeover of Port Vale earlier in the season.
Newton insisted he has no plans to invest in another club.
Newton said: “I’m very disappointed we couldn’t get a deal done but in the end we were unable to agree on a combination of things.
“The financial situation of any club that’s relegated deteriorates, and when I first became involved the playing side of things was clearly in a terrible state.
“But I was looking at the club as a Blue Square Premier club and was fully prepared to rebuild the club from there.
“I had a great team that I was ready to bring in that I believe could have transformed the club but unfortunately it became clear that a deal wasn’t going to be possible.
“There’s no animosity involved, the whole thing was handled professionally and I wish the club all the best for the future.” Tweet
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If or when County go down, then one major issue for the board of Stockport County is going to be ground costs, if gates are going to be around the 2000/3000 make the choice of closing two stands for certain games if not all games. If they are only going to get 200 away fans, wouldn't it be better to place them in the 2 sections in the main stand, like they used to, and possible only opening the lower tier of the Cheadle End, with the upper tier only being opened as an over flow? This would probably be unfavourable with County fans but as an option to reduce costs, less Stewards and not having to clean afterwards, is a no brainer. Yes, Kennedy has offered to reduce the rent if County goes down, but the facts are if Sale are closing stands in order to save costs then shouldn't County?
If it was up to me (where's that lottery win when you need it?), I would give Jim Gannon 51% of the club to come back to County, The man is capable of running the club, never mind the team. With no interference from amateurs and his own hand picked appointments strategically placed within the structure of the club to ease his workload, just watch us go, go, go 8-)
Are there any footballling rules or legislation that stop a footballer from investing
Couldn't we get a neville scholes or such to come in and buy the club
I could see scholes turming SCFC into a crewe style club nuturing new talent to be sold on to bigger clubs. Not ideal but realistic in the current climate
Rather than buy the team, an investor should buy the ground and go from there. Own the ground and the club would be gratis
newton should consider this, thats where the control is and would add value to a club with no real assets except its name and league status
Would be a good jump up if FCUM even amalgamated with us. Draw in a fan base, money etc
Is it true that the funding for next season is in the form of a parachute payment from the football league and will county tell the fans and the kids at the centre of excellance what is going to happen officially. Will they be functioning as a full time club including kids or will use the money to with the sole intention of return to league 2, i don`t think personally that club can afford both in the coming season and that some sacrifices will have to be made. It will take time and money to get stockport county back where it belongs.