Wrexham Evening Leader

Safe at last?

By CAROLINE JONES

13 July 2006

Neville DickensWREXHAM FOOTBALL Club could finally be out of administration and owned by local businessmen Neville Dickens (pictured) and Geoff Moss this afternoon.

It is hoped the long running saga that has blighted the historic club will finally come to an end following crunch Football League talks today.

Fans have been anxiously awaiting news that will secure the club's future following a fight which almost saw the club kicked out of the Football League.

League bosses are expected to meet this afternoon, and if they back plans by administrators and the club's new owners, the future of the club will be changed forever.

By tomorrow it could be completely debt free and looking forward to a new future.

Dave Acland, of administrators Begbies Traynor, said he was expecting the news by this afternoon.

Fans have anxiously been waiting for news on the future of the club since local businessmen Neville Dickens and Geoff Moss bought out the club.

The pair were expected to take over the club by the end of this week and the deal could be done and dusted today.

They have completed their plans on the deal which will bring the club out of administration after a three-year-long battle which has left fans, players and bosses fighting for its survival.

It is hoped that £3.3million will be handed over to administrators who will then pay off creditors.

Recently members of Wrexham Council's executive board voted in favour of the council offering a short term loan of £400,000 to the consortium led by Mr Dickens and Mr Moss, to underpin their bid to acquire the club and the stadium, and to move it out of administration.

Wrexham Council says it backed the loan to 'ensure the long term success of the club'.

Creditors of the club, which went into administration with £4.72m in debts, voted unanimously to accept a dividend of at least 27.73p in the pound.

At a recent meeting of the planning committee, Wrexham Council backed Mr Dickens and Mr Moss' plans to develop around the ground.

The development will include apartments and retail units.