Fans in race to win over Rovers
By Nick Hilton, Daily Post

THE partnership aiming to take Tranmere Rovers into the future as a community-based club was formerly launched this weekend.

But just as the Tranmere & Wirral Football Supporters Trust and Liverpool-based youth charity Weston Spirit tied the knot on their innovative joint venture, a new possibility for the future of the club was emerging.

Tranmere Rovers chairman Lorraine Rogers and Manchester property developer Mark Guterman are understood to have had talks in the past week.

Guterman, the former owner of Chester City and now chairman of Wrexham, has denied having any interest in Tranmere.

But he was a conspicuous visitor to Prenton Park last week when he met with Rogers, who is handling the sale of the club on behalf of controlling shareholder Peter Johnson.

If Guterman had any interest in taking over Tranmere he, like rival bidder Stephen Vaughan who is the current chairman of Chester, would be in breach of FA and Football League regulations unless he dispensed with third division Wrexham.

However, Guterman's property development expertise would be of obvious value in any discussion with Rogers, should Tranmere's current chairman be considering becoming the new owner.

The details of the takeover package mounted by Vaughan Promotions and made public last month involved the sale of Prenton Park for commercial development and the club's Ingleborough training ground for housing.

The idea was to generate sufficient funds to repay the £5m-plus figure Peter Johnson is owed by the club with a remaining £7m split equally between Vaughan Promotions and the new Tran-mere Rovers, who would be housed in a purpose-built stadium on the Birkenhead waterfront.

However, such property development plans face legal and planning hurdles, not to mention a declaration of support from Wirral Council. Planning permission would be required for development at Prenton Park and Ingle-borough, where a deed of covenant restricts the use of the former Birkenhead Institute playing fields to recreational purposes.

The issue of Tranmere's £2.1m grant from the football trust for rebuilding work at Prenton Park in the mid-90s would also have to be addressed.

The Trust/Weston Spirit partnership remain the only bidders publically committed to finding a way for Tranmere to stay at Prenton Park.

Trust members attending their first annual meeting on Saturday unanimously voted approval for a feasibility study to be launched into how much the takeover project would cost and how it would be run as a business. It should be completed early in the new year.

Trust board member Mark Harwood said: "The partnership is proposing a new democratic model for community ownership of a football club. We want ownership, transparency, trust and probity."

The partnership has been urged by Rogers to speed up the delivery of their business plan, but at the same time they say they have been denied access to Tranmere's accounts.

Trust director Bruce Cain, who chaired Saturday's meeting, said negotiations with Rogers were proving difficult.

He told the meeting: "We have had meetings with the chairman and the initial response was that we are not really players until we have a cheque for £6m on the table. Until then, we are told, the process of due diligence will not commence.

"It does seem difficult for any organisation trying to get access to information when the person you are dealing with may be a potential purchaser herself.

"We feel that the best way forward is to issue a formal state-ment of intent which sets out the details of what we intend to do.

"We are interested in the preservation and future success of Tranmere Rovers Football Club.

"We want to keep Tranmere at Prenton Park if possible. We are not interested in property deals."

Graham Kelly, the former chief executive of both the Football League and FA, was a special guest speaker at the Trust meeting.

Kelly told the gathering: "The community initiative by Weston Spirit and the Trust is a very exciting development.

"It could be a model for other clubs in the lower divisions to follow in the future.

"I'm sure that if the feasibility study is successful then everyone in the game will be watching Tranmere very closely indeed.

"I would encourage Tranmere supporters everywhere to give their full backing to the Trust and Weston Spirit.

"I could not see any reason why the club would not give full co-operation on the feasibility study."