Yeovil Town: Consortium threatens to withdraw takeover bid
Last updated on .From the section Yeovil
One of the groups in the running to buy Yeovil Town has threatened to withdraw from the bidding and blamed delays by the current owners.
Yeovil said this week that three groups are in final takeover talks.
But one of the consortia has told BBC Points West it could pull out.
"We are at the point of withdrawing our offer for YTFC due to the continued delay and our inability to get a straight answer from the current owner," its statement read.
"We are continually being given deadlines when a decision will be made and every time it's pushed back.
"We also understand that players are being sold which is not professional or helpful for the club moving forward.
"Mindful of the time it will take to conduct due diligence and that, at least, a new manager needs appointing as a priority, our targeted completion date of 1 July looked increasingly unachievable."
The Glovers were relegated to the National League in May after 16 years in the English Football League.
A proposed takeover by American investor Rob Couhig then fell through, leaving owners Norman Hayward and John Fry to find new buyers, who will be facing a significant loss of income following the drop from League Two.
Kieran Maguire, a football finance expert from the University of Liverpool, told a BBC Somerset documentary: "A club the size of Yeovil normally has a total income around £2.5m to £3m in League Two.
"I think they will lose about 20% of that and the biggest loss will be in respect of support they were previously receiving from the Premier League (solidarity payments).
"That was worth £450,000 a year, so that will go.
"They are entitled to parachute payments for the next two years in the National League but after that all of the TV money will have gone.
"They've not historically been big investors of players as far as transfer fees are concerned but hopefully they will still be able to compete at that level in terms of wages."
