Chris Wilder urges Northampton chairman to sell club
Monday 23 November 2015 12:50, UK
Northampton manager Chris Wilder has made a strongly-worded plea for the club's current owner to sell to former Oxford chairman Kelvin Thomas' consortium.
The Cobblers boss made an emotional statement to the media following the Cobblers' 2-1 win at Notts County, which has put the team third in Sky Bet League Two.
The current chairman, David Cardoza, has reached advanced talks with the Thomas consortium but confirmed at the back end of last week that there are two other groups interested in buying the club.
One is made up of three former directors and a former Conservative MP for Northampton, Brian Binley, while the identity of the other group has not been made public.
The club themselves have also taken the unusual step of producing a Facebook post calling for their own chairman to sell, saying: "Every day you delay, every day you stall, every day you seek more talks hurts the club and everyone who loves Northampton Town Football Club."
Club staff have not been paid since the end of October, although the playing squad's wages have been covered by the Professional Footballers' Association.
Northampton are currently fighting to avoid being placed into administration and on Monday were awarded an extended period of time to agree a takeover, when a decision on a winding-up petition from HMRC for an unpaid tax bill of £166,000 was adjourned until November 30.
Any potential new owners would have to re-negotiate a £10.25m debt owed to Northampton Borough Council and consult with the local authority over a piece of land nearby that is prime for redevelopment.
Wilder worked under Thomas when the pair were at Oxford, and feels his group would be the best option to take over, and club's supporters have launched an online petition further campaigning for the deal to be pushed through.
"I'm exhausted because there's a deal to be done - I know there's a deal to be done," he said.
"I've not said anything because I've gone along with it and trusted that things would be looked after.
"But the players and staff are pulling rabbits out of hats and it's just remarkable how we keep going in this period.
"There's a deal that will take this club forward, that will give it a bright future, that challenges out of this division, that challenges in the next division, that challenges to try and get in the Championship.
"There's a deal to be done that would get the stand build. How many more years will we look at that empty stand?
"It's 100 per cent the best deal. I totally respect the other guys and previous directors at this football club but that's a rescue act and there's a deal on the table to be had where he (Kelvin Thomas) will bring everybody in together.
"It's not just because I know him. I know the deal and I'm a football manager - if I lose games of football, everybody asks about my position regardless if my dad's the chairman or somebody I know is the chairman.
"We're playing with people's livelihoods here - players, staff, supporters - and it's ridiculous."
And he added: "We've got a deal on the table that can take the club forward, not a rescue act that just gets us through to the end of the season.
"How long is the best deal going to be there for? We've got until next Friday. We've got somebody who's worked incredibly hard, who wants to take the club forward and who wants to put money into the club and strengthen our position and wants us to get into League One.
"He wants to invest and pay people's wages and get the stand built and have a feel good factor."
