League bosses say they are ‘monitoring’ the situation at Nuneaton Borough FC amid growing concerns about its future.
As Borough prepare to go into another game with no new owner on board, the National League says it is keeping an eye on the situation at Liberty Way.
Stoke-on-TrentLive reports that the league has asked the club to provide evidence of who the current owner is.
Former chairman Lee Thorn has distanced himself from the Borough, selling the ground and reportedly saying he no longer owns Boro Leisure Limited, the club’s holding company.
Port Vale owner Norman Smurthwaite bought the ground but says he does not own the club and is acting as a facilitator to try to find a new owner.
His purchase of the ground had to be approved by the EFL, which has rules to limit the involvement one person can have in two clubs.
A National League spokesman said: “We are monitoring the situation.”
Critical time for Nuneaton Borough
Nuneaton Borough Supporters Co-operative said it would step in and try and buy the club, with the help of Supporters Direct, as a last resort - but only if due diligence could be provided and the buy-out was feasible.
Earlier this month, Mr Smurthwaite said time was running out to find a buyer to rescue Borough.
He said a new company and a new board has to be in place before the National League board meets on November 1.
He appealed to the community to help save the club, saying: “The next week to ten days is the most critical time I believe this club has ever faced.
“I feel that the club needs to engage you all in trying to avert the sad closure of the football club’s doors.
“If the town wishes to keep the heritage and the football club alive it now needs your immediate assistance.
“I will endeavour to help within the constraints the regulatory bodies have imposed upon me and hope that a solution can be found to what are some serious challenges in front of the club and the town as a whole.”
In the meantime, manager Nicky Eaden has praised the support his team got off the pitch – even if they fell short on it last weekend.
'Frank discussions'
After a turbulent week, Nuneaton came out last Saturday in front of a season-high 823 fans, but failed to make it count as they went down 6-0 at home to Bradford Park Avenue.
Despite that, Boro boss Eaden had nothing but praise for those off the pitch as well as those on it.
He said: “Let’s not mess about, last week was a tough week for all of us.
“I’ve had some frank discussions with the players about the future here and it has been more than hard but to see the effort they put in last week – plus the support they got – it was great to see.
“The fans really got behind the team and I think they showed what it all means.
“People care and it’s what we need at this stage.
"I know the result wasn’t great, it was a bad defeat, but we gave it everything out there and the fans came to see that.
“We will need more of that going forward this season.”
The defeat leaves Nuneaton in the bottom three in the league ahead of Saturday’s trip to Stockport for a 3pm kick-off.
'One of the toughest times'
Eaden said: “It was a tough one as we went into the game on the back of a couple of good results, but things went against us on Saturday.
“We had a deflected goal after we hit the bar, then the lob one in from the half way line then they nick another before half time which changes everything.
“I then lose players to injury and after making all my subs our keeper gets sent off and we end up with an out-field player in goal.
“We then lose another lad to injury after that so end up playing the last 25 minutes with a defender in goal and nine men on the pitch.
“I mean what else can go wrong really?
“This has been one of the toughest times anyone can have in football and the result was hard to take after that.”
Despite all that Eaden is refusing to walk away.
He said: “I brought the players into this club and my future lies with them. ]
“I can’t just walk away and leave them to sort out this mess. I would be annoyed if a manager did this when I was playing and I certainly won’t do it to my players.
“We are all in this together this season.”
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