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Notts County, the world's oldest football league club,
said on Thursday that a Middle East consortium was taking them over
in a multi-million pound deal.
Notts, formed in 1862 but languishing in the lower reaches of
the English League for many years, said on its website that Munto
Finance Limited, owned by several Middle-East based businessmen,
had agreed to buy the club once the usual financial diligence
checks had been made.
Describing the deal as one worth "multi-millions" the club said
in the statement: "The group wants complete control of the Magpies
and has ambitious plans to restore the fortunes of the world's
oldest football league club."
The club, who finished the recently ended season 19th in League
Two, would become the fourth in England to be taken over by Middle
Eastern interests following Premier League Manchester City, and
Portsmouth, where due diligence tests are starting before they are
acquired by new Arab owners.
Egyptian Mohamed Al Fayed has also owned Premier League Fulham
for 12 years.
TAKEOVER PROCESS
The club's chairman John Armstrong-Holmes said in a statement
that two of the Munto group were appointed to Notts County's board
on Tuesday to assist in the takeover process.
He also told Sky Sports News the money involved was
"substantial" and that the funds were in place for the
takeover.
Asked why millionaire businessmen from the Middle East would
want to invest in a club like Notts County, Armstrong-Holmes
explained: "Manchester United are probably about a billion pounds
in debt, something like that I hear, they have to spend about 50
million pounds plus a year just to service that debt.
"Liverpool were 300 million pounds in debt, they want another
300 million pounds or more for their new stadium, so when you look
at Notts County as a proposition, rather than those propositions,
what a success story.
"You can take the world's oldest football league club, progress
it through the leagues gradually with a common sense approach,
rather than throw all that money into a banker's pot or someone
else's pot."
Despite being founder-members of the Football League in 1888,
Notts County have had very little success. They won the FA Cup in
1894 but their best ever seasons in the top flight were
third-placed finishes in 1891 and 1901.
They last played in the top division in the 1991/92 season - the
final Division One season before the Premier League began.