For some weeks now it has only looked like there was one consortium likely to take over Notts County, with other others said to be some way behind the pair of Frank Strang and Raj Bhatia in terms of putting bids together.
Today it emerged that the Notts administrator Paul Finnity has received another "financially suitable" offer for the oldest League Club in the world. This time the consortium is headed by someone a little more familiar to the County faithful – Albert Scardino.
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The bid is apparently worth "in excess" of £3 million. If Scardino’s offer were to be accepted by Finnity, Quintain Estates would own Meadow Lane, and the Club, run by Albert Scardino, would then rent the ground back off them for around £200,000 a year. There would also be enough money in the deal to bring the Club out of the grip of administration and would allow Billy Dearden to strengthen his playing squad for the coming season.
Both offers have been approved by the City Council, but the original bid from Strang and Bhatia is still further down the line than the new one.
The bids have to be approved by the Club’s creditors at a meeting, which could be called in the next few days. It is likely that the meeting will be held in the week commencing 26th May. Not forgetting the fact that the League’s deadline for Notts to come out of administration is on the 27th May so it is unlikely that the meeting will be held more than a few days before that date.
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"I am pleased that we have managed to put this together.
"I definitely believe this is the way forward for the club, though there is still a long way to go."
Scardino also apologised for his unsuccessful previous attempts to run the Club – some of that time of course was with Peter Storrie.
"I am happy to take my share of the blame for the previous failures," he said.
"But, though I know it will take some time, I hope I can restore some of the faith in the future.
"This package has everything required to get the club back on a good financial footing."