The frontrunners to take over Torquay United

The supporter-backed consortium led by South Devon businessman Mike Westcott, with former Gulls manager Neil Warnock in an advisory role, is increasingly confident that they can take over Torquay United.

Lifelong United fan Westcott and his group, and Torquay United Supporters Trust (TUST), are pressing ahead on financial and legal fronts to acquire the club – whether or not it goes into administration.

The consortium, which also includes Gulls supporters Mark Bowes-Cavanagh, Simon Robinson, Andrew Beaulieu and Tom Allen, is ready to commit their funds to a takeover.

TUST say they are embarking on a fundraising drive of their own, so that they will become partners in the potential new venture.

It’s important to stress that the deal is not done yet, and the threat of administration remains.

But I understand that the Westcott-TUST bid are working on scenarios for both eventualities.

Whether or not outgoing owner Clarke Osborne, and CEO George Edwards and finance director Mel Hayman, are talking to any other bidders is not known, but there seems to be a momentum to the Westcott-TUST bid that augurs well for its success.

The group were at Plainmoor for last Saturday’s 1-0 win over Hampton & Richmond, in tandem with Warnock, and they are expected to attend forthcoming Easter matches at Yeovil Town on Friday and Weston-super-Mare on Monday.

Warnock, 75, the former Gulls and Plymouth Argyle manager who recently left Aberdeen after a short spell there, has lent his public support to them.

It’s not clear yet whether East Cornwall-based Warnock, whose eight promotions at various clubs is a record in English senior football plus several other ‘rescue acts’, might play an official role in a future regime.

But he seems prepared to be involved in at least a ‘consultancy’ capacity.

Westcott is a former Torbay journalist who left as a young man to pursue what became a successful media career, much of it spent in the Far East.

He returned to the UK a few years ago to continue his business career and now lives in the South Hams.

It is obviously important that United, hit by a ten-point deduction for Osborne’s notice of administration, stay in the National League South and avoid relegation to the Southern League.

So the next few games are vital to secure that status and give the new owners a better base to work from.