THE mystery donation made to Weymouth FC last week by former club secretary Peter Saxby “was always intended to be a loan”.

Acting chairman Pranas Preidzius brought the issue to light on Saturday when he made the following statement to Echosport: “On Wednesday morning I was informed that the club had received £2,500 from Peter Saxby as a donation. However, an email has been sent to the previous chairman George Rolls this morning stating that he never offered a donation but had offered to loan the club £2,500.

“As a football club we are not in a position to accept such loans and get further into debt therefore Peter Saxby has decided that he does not want to donate the money as had previously been told to me by the associate directors.”

When contacted about the matter, Saxby responded: “I offered to loan the club £2,500 and it was always intended to be a loan.

“The fact it went up on the club’s website as a donation was an error and I made the offer of help purely to try and get the club through to the end of the season.

“However, it appears it has now been twisted and thrown back in my face with George Rolls emailing me about it when he is no longer a director or chairman.”

Associate director Nigel Biddlecombe has also given his account of events.

He said: “My understanding of it was that a loan was made available for me to help the club pay the wages but circumstances have changed slightly and Peter Saxby has seen fit to withdraw that offer.

“I did offer to take the loan personally but he felt unable to accept that either. The money will now be returned to him today when the banks open.”

Saxby decided to come forward with an offer of help after the club was thrown into disarray following Rolls’ decision to resign.

However, it would now appear that Preidzius is happy to take on the reins and stabilise matters at the Bob Lucas Stadium despite admitting to Echosport on Friday that it was “becoming a headache” and that the board is “possibly” looking to sell.

Ian Ferguson’s consortium had a takeover bid of £25,000 turned down last week and Saxby reckons more local businessmen would come out in support of the club if it changed into local hands.

He added: “If they are that desperate not to run the club why don’t they just hand over the reins to Ian Ferguson’s consortium so they can run it as a community club?

“I am still interested in helping out but will only do so once George Rolls stops pulling the strings and hands over the club to local people. I also know six or seven people willing to do likewise.”