They are demanding that the administrators who have been called in to see the business through the next few months and pay off creditors, seek outside investors to rescue the club from its present predicament. Potential new owners John Courtenay and Brooks Mileson have agreed to work together to form a consortium that will make a bid to buy United from the administrators. At present Mr Elliott has only agreed to pass on bids to current owner Michael Knighton. However he can apply to the courts for extra powers to sell the club as a going concern. Creditors will hold a meeting next month where several sets of proposals could be put on the table. One is likely to be put forward by the Knighton family which would involve selling 100 acres of grazing land and a derelict house at the end of Warwick Road to raise money to meet or partially meet the £1m debts. The rest would have to come out of gate receipts and drip-fed over several months. The other proposal could come from Courtenay and Mileson. Both men are thought to have the funds in place to completely clear the debts and pump capital into the club in order to strengthen the squad, revive the commercial side and begin work on developing the rest of the stadium. Supporters are planning to boycott home games next season if the Knighton family remain in control. Mr Knighton claims to have supporters on his side who he describes as "non-confrontational", but none of these were in evidence yesterday as two separate meetings were held at Brunton Park. The first of these saw Mr Elliott sit down with 20 supporters, some of whom were members of CCUIST and some not. He later met 15 shareholders of the club. Shareholders have already begun legal action against Mr Knighton for acting against their interests. If gates fall to 1,000 under Mr Knighton's continued ownership compared to an expected 5,000 under a new regime, total matchday income could fall by up to £1 million next season - a catastrophic loss of revenue that could see the club unable to fulfill its fixtures and fall into liquidation. If administrators' rescue efforts fail, they would be discharged from their duties and the original winding-up petition re-served on the club. Alan Steel, secretary of fans' trust CCUIST, who attended yesterday's meetings, said: "The unanimous call was for Mr Elliott to go back to the court and seek permission to sell the club. He wants to sell grazing land to raise cash for creditors, but we pointed out that may take months and debts will continue to rise during that time. There will be little income from season tickets and match receipts because of the fans' boycott, and if the club is sold later rather than sooner, the price will go down." Mr Steel later predicted Knighton would be ousted before the start of the new season and that the ground would be full for the first match against Hartlepool United on August 10. Picture from News & Star www.newsandstar.co.uk |
