Businessman and benefactor Stuart Murphy is ending his long association with National League North Chester.
Blues fans has been weighing up an offer from the entrepreneur and founder of Exacta Plc since last week to take control of the club and end their supporter ownership.
The 66-year-old has sponsored Chester’s stadium since the club’s reformation in 2010 and previously as the owner of former Blues shirt sponsor Truetone in the mid-2000s.
More closely involved since 2018 when he announced a significant donation to give them a new lease of life, in November 2019 Murphy unveiled ambitious plans for a state-of-the-art multi-million pound sports village on land around the club’s home in order to help the Blues reach League One.
? @CityFansUnited Board Statement ? https://t.co/JFSp5b9J09 pic.twitter.com/ZOfNThopez
— Chester FC (@ChesterFC) May 12, 2020
According to a statement released at midday on Tuesday by officials at the 1885 Arena, Murphy withdrew his offer at the weekend.
The statement read: “The Board of City Fans United can confirm we received notification from Stuart Murphy, on behalf of Exacta Plc, on Sunday 10th May advising his intention to end his association with the club forthwith. Therefore, the Board wishes to advise members we consider Stuart’s approach to takeover the ownership of Chester FC to be withdrawn.
“We can confirm that to date we have not received settlement of the outstanding financial commitments for the 2019/20 season, however we remain in discussion with Stuart regarding this matter. Chester FC would like to place on record its appreciation to Stuart for his financial support and donations received since his association with the club commenced in 2018 and we wish him well for the future.
“The board will provide further updates to members over the coming days and weeks, and is committed to fully engaging with the membership in developing a revised strategy to ensure we can overcome the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, continue to function sustainably and remain competitive when football returns as a 100 per cent supporter-owned football club.”
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Images courtesy of The Non-League Paper & @ChesterFC/Twitter
