Football club’s future looks safe

Apr 8 2008 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

A FOOTBALL club’s immediate future appears to have been secured after Newcastle-based administrator Gerald Krasner revealed he has received two written offers for Bournemouth.

An administrators’ sale will take place after attempts to get a company voluntary arrangement failed at a meeting with creditors and shareholders yesterday.

The two bidders will now hold talks with Mr Krasner and be given until this afternoon to alter their bids.

The former Leeds chairman hopes to announce the successful bidder tomorrow and he confirmed that the cash-strapped Cherries should avoid liquidation if one of the bids is accepted.

Deposits of £100,000 have been provided by both consortiums to keep the club running until the end of the season with the unsuccessful bidder refunded their deposit.

Krasner told the club’s official website, www.afcb.co.uk: “Within 20 hours of this meeting, I hope to have sold the club.”

Gerald Krasner, a licensed insolvency practitioner, has been running Bournemouth since it went into administration on February 8 with debts of £4.5m.

Mr Krasner, who works for Begbies Traynor and lives in Jesmond, was called in to attempt to turn the club around.

He hit the headlines nationally in 2003 when he took over the running of Leeds United, handling its spell in administration.

Despite selling Leeds to Ken Bates, Mr Krasner branded as derisory the former Chelsea supremo’s initial 1p in the £1 offer to creditors during the controversial administration proceedings at the club.