Local businessman launches Wakefield bid
An investment company headed by a local businessman has made an offer to buy Wakefield Wildcats out of administration.
Spirit of 1873 is a private investment company backed by local Wakefield entrepreneur Andrew Glover who is also the owner of West Yorkshire Windows Limited.
The Company’s offer would secure the future of the Club and the Community Trust allowing the Wildcats to compete in the 2011 Super League season and the Community Trust to continue its vital work promoting health and fitness in the Wakefield area.
The proposal comes after Glover was given provisional approval by the Rugby Football League, under the ‘fit and proper person’ test.
Glover said: “I fully sympathise with fans who have had so little hard information about their club in recent months while recognising that it has been extremely difficult, for legal reasons, for the board to communicate as fully as they may have wished. However, the current directors have confirmed to us during our discussions that, if our bid is successful, they will all be resigning and will not look to be involved in the management of the Club going forward.
“I want to stress that this is a serious and fully costed bid to takeover Wakefield’s number one sports team before the start of the new season. If successful, our first objectives will be to work closely with the RFL to negotiate as small a points penalty as possible as a result of the Administration to participate in the Super League 2011 season.
“The Wildcats belong in the Super League and I will be actively involved in seeing that the Club stays there by ensuring that it is run on a proper commercial basis. Our plan is a long-term one which would see the Club operate in a more financially sustainable and transparent way.”
Mr Glover stressed that Spirit of 1873 will provide enthusiastic backing for the bid to gain planning permission for a 12,000 seat stadium at Newmarket: “The proposed new purpose-built Community Stadium will not only provide the Wildcats with a fantastic venue appropriate to the Club’s iconic status but will also provide superb facilities and benefits for the area at large.
