9:20am Wednesday 18th November 2009
By Derek Bish
GEORGE Rolls may have seen his bid turned down by the Weymouth Football Club board this week, but he expressed his happiness that the club would be saved.
The former Cambridge United chairman was keen to get involved and made an offer to inject £50,000 into the club to save it from administration and liquidation.
However, the offer from Chris Ryan and Steve Beasant was accepted instead but Rolls insists there are no hard feelings and hopes to see the Terras return to the Blue Square Premier in the not too distant future.
“The great news is Weymouth Football Club has been saved,” said Rolls. “I’m sure that Mr Ryan and Mr Beasant will do a good job and I wish them all the best, and wish Weymouth Football Club all the best.
“I hope their battle against relegation is one that is won this season – there are some good people down there so I wish them all the best.
“This wasn’t about Chris Ryan, Steve Beasant or George Rolls it was about Weymouth Football Club and it is great news it has survived.
“A week ago it was looking bleak and liquidation was very high on the agenda, so fair play to Chris and Steve and I’m sure they’ll do well.”
Even though Rolls was spoken to by Ryan and Beasant about forming a group together, the Trade Recruitment supremo launched his own bid, that only fell down on the differing amounts being offered. Rolls said he would inject £50,000 into the club, while the Ryan consortium’s offer was to pump in excess of £150,000 into the club.
However, Rolls has ruled out joining Ryan and Beasant at this late stage, even though the proposed buyers had expressed their interest to bring someone with Rolls’ experience in football into the club.
Rolls said: “Steve asked me to join their consortium earlier on in the week and I had a look at things, but being part of a consortium isn’t the way forward for me.
“If there are five or six people it can get messy when decisions need to be made.
“But if Steve wants some advice or wants to know things then my phone is always there and I will be happy to help Weymouth Football Club.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of clubs since I left Cambridge and a lot of people took note at what I had done, turning round £500,000 in two years.
“I was lucky at Cambridge for I had a good board and a good chief executive in Norman Gautrey helping out.”
Even though the news that Ryan and Beasant’s bid had been accepted by the board, Rolls said that there was plenty of hard work to be done to make sure their rescue package is successful.
He believes that work starts this Saturday on the pitch at home to rivals Dorchester Town in the FA Trophy.
Rolls said: “A Trophy run would be great for the town, great for the club financially and the fans need to now know that the hard work starts here.
“It is by no means out of the mire – the creditors have to be spoken to and they play a big part in the future. There will have to be a good will from the creditors for it to continue trading.”
The Cambridgeshire-based businessman took in Weymouth’s match at Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday – the Terras’ first league win since August.
Having experienced that, he had a few kind words for the club’s fans, who turned out in force at Woodside Park even though it appeared at the time that the club was heading for extinction.
“They deserve for the club to survive, kick on and hopefully get back into the Blue Square Premier,” said Rolls. “At the end of the day, the support is what the football is all about.
“If Weymouth had gone into liquidation, you would still have got hundreds of people going to watch them in the Dorset Premier League, just because it’s Weymouth.
“I was privileged to be with Cambridge United fans who would travel across the country through thick and thin, and Weymouth Football Club are exactly the same, much like any club in the country.”
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