Lord Bracknell
On fire
From today's Wrexham Evening Leader:-
REDS: IT´S A DONE DEAL
Director says buy-out will be complete in the next 24 hours
WREXHAM Football Club will be sold in the next 24 hours, it was revealed today.
Director Dave Bennett this morning said he believed a deal to sell the club to Surrey businessman Andrew Smith’s consortium had been reached.
Mr Bennett said: “To be honest, I thought it was a done deal.
“They wanted to announce it on Saturday, but were told to hold off. I believed it was going to be announced very soon.”
The club was put into administration on Friday at the High Court in Manchester to fend off a winding-up petition.
The new owner now looks likely to be Mr Smith, from Surrey-based property firm The United Plotowners Association.
Mr Smith was said to have been alerted to The Racecourse situation through contact with financial analyst Mark Ferguson, the brother of Wrexham captain Darren.
Mr Smith also owns a chain of pubs in the South East and we can reveal that last night he was keen to let regulars at his pub in Woodham know just how interested he was in Wrexham FC.
At the busiest time in The Victoria, he pinned a printout on the pub notice board that linked his name with Wrexham FC.
Bob Hely, a sub editor on the Woking News, who was there to witness the event, said: “Although it’s my local, I’m not in there often. Last night Andy Smith was there and he was pinning up notices on the notice board. One of them was from a website connected with Wrexham FC and it mentioned Andrew Smith as an interested party.”
Mr Smith represented Woking East as a Lib Dem member on Surrey County Council until four years ago.
He is believed to have given up his seat because of ill health and was replaced by the current representative, Conservative Geoff Marlow.
Fellow councillors and officials say he is was a friendly and accessible member of the council, who preferred being called Andy to Andrew.
He is now managing director of UK and International Land Sales and Development, which was formed in 2003.
The company says it provides investors and the public “with a means to purchase land with a high potential for planning permission”
Mr Smith says he uses his knowledge and experience as a former county councillor to bring a fresh perspective to land selling.
The company web site says: “He also has a far-reaching view of the strategic side of land sales and has already been in contact with the Government in relation to the provision of environmentally-friendly services and discounted key-worker housing.”
His website claims his company holds 100 plots for sale at this time.
UPA was formed in February 2003 to assist plot owners across Britain in advancing planning applications for their sites.
Mr Bennett said he and fellow director David Griffiths were due to meet Mr Smith at The Racecourse on Friday but missed the meeting because they were held up in Manchester after the court hearing.
He added: “It is definitely a positive bid; it could be official today or tomorrow. I tried to call him over the weekend but failed to reach him.”
Mr Bennett said that as far as he was aware, Mr Smith’s plan involved keeping the club at The Racecourse and using land at the Kop end for housing.
The man now running Wrexham FC confirmed the club is in serious discussions with a potential buyer.
Administrator Steve Williams said that controversial owner Alex Hamilton had been approached about the sale of the club.
Mr Williams said: “That is the position at the moment. Someone is in serious discussions at the moment, which would concern the club and the ground.”
Any deal would have to meet the approval of Mr Williams, who says his job is to agree a consensual sale to the satisfaction of shareholders and creditors.
Two expressions of interest which came to the fore on Thursday failed to materialise, Mr Williams said.
Mr Hamilton said over the weekend he had been speaking to Mr Smith and a deal could be struck soon.
Mr Hamilton said he has also been in touch over the weekend with another potential bid.
REDS: IT´S A DONE DEAL
Director says buy-out will be complete in the next 24 hours
WREXHAM Football Club will be sold in the next 24 hours, it was revealed today.
Director Dave Bennett this morning said he believed a deal to sell the club to Surrey businessman Andrew Smith’s consortium had been reached.
Mr Bennett said: “To be honest, I thought it was a done deal.
“They wanted to announce it on Saturday, but were told to hold off. I believed it was going to be announced very soon.”
The club was put into administration on Friday at the High Court in Manchester to fend off a winding-up petition.
The new owner now looks likely to be Mr Smith, from Surrey-based property firm The United Plotowners Association.
Mr Smith was said to have been alerted to The Racecourse situation through contact with financial analyst Mark Ferguson, the brother of Wrexham captain Darren.
Mr Smith also owns a chain of pubs in the South East and we can reveal that last night he was keen to let regulars at his pub in Woodham know just how interested he was in Wrexham FC.
At the busiest time in The Victoria, he pinned a printout on the pub notice board that linked his name with Wrexham FC.
Bob Hely, a sub editor on the Woking News, who was there to witness the event, said: “Although it’s my local, I’m not in there often. Last night Andy Smith was there and he was pinning up notices on the notice board. One of them was from a website connected with Wrexham FC and it mentioned Andrew Smith as an interested party.”
Mr Smith represented Woking East as a Lib Dem member on Surrey County Council until four years ago.
He is believed to have given up his seat because of ill health and was replaced by the current representative, Conservative Geoff Marlow.
Fellow councillors and officials say he is was a friendly and accessible member of the council, who preferred being called Andy to Andrew.
He is now managing director of UK and International Land Sales and Development, which was formed in 2003.
The company says it provides investors and the public “with a means to purchase land with a high potential for planning permission”
Mr Smith says he uses his knowledge and experience as a former county councillor to bring a fresh perspective to land selling.
The company web site says: “He also has a far-reaching view of the strategic side of land sales and has already been in contact with the Government in relation to the provision of environmentally-friendly services and discounted key-worker housing.”
His website claims his company holds 100 plots for sale at this time.
UPA was formed in February 2003 to assist plot owners across Britain in advancing planning applications for their sites.
Mr Bennett said he and fellow director David Griffiths were due to meet Mr Smith at The Racecourse on Friday but missed the meeting because they were held up in Manchester after the court hearing.
He added: “It is definitely a positive bid; it could be official today or tomorrow. I tried to call him over the weekend but failed to reach him.”
Mr Bennett said that as far as he was aware, Mr Smith’s plan involved keeping the club at The Racecourse and using land at the Kop end for housing.
The man now running Wrexham FC confirmed the club is in serious discussions with a potential buyer.
Administrator Steve Williams said that controversial owner Alex Hamilton had been approached about the sale of the club.
Mr Williams said: “That is the position at the moment. Someone is in serious discussions at the moment, which would concern the club and the ground.”
Any deal would have to meet the approval of Mr Williams, who says his job is to agree a consensual sale to the satisfaction of shareholders and creditors.
Two expressions of interest which came to the fore on Thursday failed to materialise, Mr Williams said.
Mr Hamilton said over the weekend he had been speaking to Mr Smith and a deal could be struck soon.
Mr Hamilton said he has also been in touch over the weekend with another potential bid.
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He fufills all of the other considerations because he works in property! 
