Property developer Andy Smith has been named by Wrexham owner Alex Hamilton as the man closest to buying Wrexham FC.
Last night the controversial club owner claimed he had negotiated a three-week exclusivity agreement with Surrey-based businessman Smith to finalise a deal to purchase the League Two club.
The latest news has raised question marks over the bid by local businessmen Neville Dickens and Geoff Moss, who had their bid officially endorsed by members of the Wrexham Supporters Trust (WST) at its annual general meeting last week.
Speculation around the club was that the bid submitted by Mr Dickens and Mr Moss were close to reaching a deal with Hamilton to buying the debt-ridden club.
Instead
Smith had secured a similar deal with
Mr Dickens - a former director of the club - was last night unsure where it left his joint bid with Geoff Moss.
Dickens said: “I’ve just been told he’s signed a three-week exclusivity deal with
Once Smith's original exclusivity deal expired, many felt that was the end of his interest in Wrexham, however, Smith revealed today that his team had not stopped working on the deal in the last five months, and that the deal had not just occurred overnight.
He said: “We haven’t stopped working on the deal since we first announced it months ago. We’re here to do exactly what we said in the first place.
“We’re going to help the club, and that is put it on a sound financial footing and see it go forward in the future. We’ve agreed on the lock-out clause with Mr Hamilton, which means we have the rights to do the deal for the club and no-one else can make an offer for it in that time.
“We’ve put together a substantial deal and that will be done within the next 21 days. I’ve already sent details to the administrators and will be speaking to David Acland, and I plan to speak to Denis Smith soon.”
Smith added that he had spent the morning dealing with understandable angry calls from Wrexham supporters after his deal with
“It’s disgusting some of the things that have been said to me,” he said.
The WST released an official statement on supporters' website Red Passion, stating this was a critical time for the club ahead of the new season in League Two, and addressed Smith saying:
“We are still unclear about your motives for continuing your interest in acquiring our football club. These have never been clear and we are perplexed about your real intentions.”
WST's Lindsay Jones said he was shocked by the deal.
He said: “The trust is absolutely disgusted, the Neville Dickens and Geoff Moss bid had everything the fans wanted for the club, we even voted in support of it at our AGM last week. We’re appalled that Smith has come in at this late stage and scuppered that deal, the fans are just so angry.
“The Dickens/Moss bid would have been right for the club and set it up well for the future, Smith has got three weeks to set up his deal but we don’t think he’ll see it through. Smith has obviously been keeping an eye on the Dickens bid, and this allows