A move to get businesses behind a bid to buy out Nuneaton Town Football Club has failed - forcing co-operative club members to go it alone.
That was the outcome of the Nuneaton Borough Supporter's Cooperative (NBSC) meeting where interested parties were asked to attend to discuss plans to buy out the Boro.
While the asking price for the club and Liberty Way-based ground has not been revealed, it is known that it runs into six figures and, coupled with other concerns, it proved too much for businesses to get involved.
A spokesperson for NBSC said they will now revert to Plan B, working with Supporters Direct to finance the buy-out themselves - but they have appealed to Lee Thorn, who owns the club, to get round the table and help them secure the future of the Boro.
Supporters Direct has, for the past 18 years, helped supporters gain influence in the running and ownership of their club, including raising funds.
"Nuneaton Borough Supporter's Cooperative chair Harry Warren and treasurer Mike Turner met with a number of people from the local community who had expressed an interest in supporting the Cooperative and their aims for a community run football club," said the NBSC spokesperson.
"We delivered our vision to them regarding the future of the club, something which was widely bought into by the group, all of whom actively want to help us should we secure the football club.
"However, the price that has been quoted, coupled with information available in public domain about the operational situation of the football club, was deemed too high a risk for anyone to be interested in making financial support for our bid.
"We have relayed this information to Lee Thorn, and have asked him to engage with us and Supporter's Direct as we now move to plan B, which is to launch a community share order to secure the football club.
"Should he be willing to move forward with this, we will hold an open meeting to discuss how we will raise the required monies.
"The ball now firmly rests in the court of Mr Thorn, and we hope that he will meet with us to best secure the future of this football club for the community.
"We are of course extremely disappointed with the outcome, but understand completely the views of those we met with, and we are delighted at their enthusiasm to support us and the Boro in the future."
The spokesperson concluded: "We will look to hold an open meeting as soon as possible, once we have received a positive response from Mr Thorn."
As previously reported, the club's chair, Lee Thorn, revealed he would be standing down and selling the club and ground.
He also announced that the club had been given permission by the Football Association to change its name from Nuneaton Town FC back to the original Nuneaton Borough.
Rise and fall of Nuneaton Borough/Town
January 7, 2006
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An injury-time penalty from Gez Murphy earned Nuneaton Borough a replay against Premiership big spenders Middlesbrough. They lost the replay at the Riverside Stadium 5-2 in front of more than 26,000 spectators
April 28, 2007
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Nuneaton Borough play their last game at Manor Park. Gez Murphy scored from the spot in a 1-1 draw with Vauxhall Motors. The stadium is torn down and a housing estate built in its place
2007/8 season
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Nuneaton Borough moved to play at Liberty Way, the home of the town's premier rugby club, Nuneaton RFC, also known as the Nuns
2008 - new owner and liquidation
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Nuneaton businessman Ian Neale took full ownership of the football club in 2008 and immediately raised fears of the club being forced into administration. On June 2, 2008, Nuneaton Borough went into liquidation
2008-09: Reformation and demotion
As a result of the liquidation, the club was renamed Nuneaton Town and forced to drop two divisions from Conference North to Southern League Division One
May 2009 - promotion at first attempt
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Nuneaton Town secure an immediate promotion after defeating Chasetown 1-0 in a play-off final at Liberty Way
May 2010 - make that a double!
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Eddie Nisevic scores the winning goal as Nuneaton Town defeat Chippenham in a play-off final to see Boro return to the level they played at before liquidation, the Blue Square North
May 2012 - Boro reach Blue Square Premier
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Andy Brown's goal secured Boro a third play-off final win, this time at Gainsborough Trinity's expense, to see them return to the Conference Premier for the first time in 10 years
2012/13 - the great escape
Despite going up against many professional clubs in the Conference Premier, under the management of Kevin Wilkin, Boro managed to see off the threat of relegation in 2012/13 to eventually finish 15th
2013/14 - Wilkin goes, then woe
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Boro hit the top of the table early on in the season but became victims of their own success when manager Kevin Wilkin was poached by Wrexham. Boro finished 13th with new manager Brian Reid appointed
2014/15 - new investor, manager and relegation
A poor start to the season saw Brian Reid sacked and former Coventry City defender Liam Daish appointed as manager. During the same season, former Kettering Town chairman Lee Thorn invests in the club. The season ends in relegation
2015/16 - Thorn takes full ownership
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Lee Thorn takes full ownership of the football club and former Chelsea player Kevin Wilson is appointed as manager
2015/16 and 2016/17
Boro finish sixth out of 22 teams in their first season back at National League North and follow it up by finishing 12th in the 2016/17 campaign. The management changed hands as Wilson made way for Tommy Wright
2017/18 - manager merry-go-round
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Dino Maamria, who took over from Tommy Wright in October after he joined Darlington, leaves the club in March to manage League Two club Stevenage. He is replaced by Gary Charles
2018 - mid-table security
Having struggled at the wrong end of the table, Boro turned their form around and currently lie 13th in the table, ten points cleared of the relegation zone with two games remaining
April 2018 - winding up order
Boro Leisure Limited faces winding up order at High Court
