Wrexham FC warns supporters it may look to rival bidder
Wrexham Football Club's owner has warned the supporters trust he may sell the club to a rival bidder if it fails to make a deposit by Monday.
Geoff Moss said the trust must prove its "capacity" for the deal, or he would talk to a rival who is believed to be an ex-player.
He also said the delays had contributed to manager Dean Saunders' departure.
The Wrexham Supporters' Trust (WST) said the delays "rested with the club and disclosure of information".
Mr Moss and co-owner Ian Roberts put the Blue Square Bet Premier club up for sale in January and later revealed that the Welsh club had "run out of money".
The WST is the preferred bidder and the fans' board has been in negotiations with the club for the past four months.
Members of the trust voted unanimously to back plans to take control of Wrexham FC in August.
A joint Wrexham FC and WST statement earlier this month admitted that the deal had "largely been agreed in principle" but it missed an initial 16 September deadline.
Mr Moss told BBC Wales he was still hopeful that the supporters' trust would come up with a "substantial" deposit by 17:00 BST on Monday to allow negotiations to continue.
"We have potential new owners - we just need them to get it across the line," he said.
"They've got to prove to us they have the capacity to do this deal.
"They've had every bit of information they could have possibly wanted but it's always very difficult dealing with committees.
"It's taken us 10 days in which to get a meeting - if at the end of Monday we have not put this to bed satisfactorily - from then on they will have to pay a deposit to carry on discussions with us.
"We have another bidder who we have spoken to who's been kept at bay and we have got to now open discussions with them.
"So if the trust want to come back in, they have to pay a deposit to show us they have the capacity, the ability, to be able to do this deal."
Mr Moss said the uncertainty had been frustrating and unfair to club staff, players and to former manager Saunders, who was named as manager of Championship side Doncaster Rovers on Friday.
"Losing our manager has gutted us … I know he would not have gone had this been sorted," he said.
"It's about delivering at the end of the day so we've got to look at alternatives."