Betting firm ready to take a punt on Town

2:20pm Thursday 28th August 2008

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AN ONLINE betting company could be about to launch a takeover bid for Basingstoke Town FC.

Ian Davies, a director of London-based company ibetX Limited, made contact with Town chairman and major shareholder Rafi Razzak last week.

No offer was made with Davies, a former chairman of the Basingstoke Town Supporters' Club, only enquiring as to whether Razzak would be interested in selling.

The Town chairman said he was not - but has since admitted that he would consider the right offer.

"While I am not looking to sell, I am a businessman," Razzak told The Gazette. "If the right offer comes in for the club, and the town, I will give it serious consideration."

This development has encouraged Davies, who said: "I welcome this change in position and we will probably make an offer at some point. It certainly puts us in a position to talk about an offer."

However, any offer made by ibetX would be subject to the company gaining access to the club's accounts and being happy with what they find.

The betting exchange that Davies represents is keen to buy a non-league football club in order to raise its profile in the sport.

No detailed plans have been drawn up at the moment but the company would be willing to invest both on and off of the pitch, with the ultimate aim of achieving Football League status.

"What we thought would be really good would be to take a grassroots football club and guide it up the leagues," Davies said. "We think that would win us a lot of kudos in the football world."

Knowing the club well, Davies suggested Basingstoke as an ideal candidate and was given the go-ahead to contact Razzak by ibetX bosses.

"Basingstoke Town is one of the biggest opportunities left in the country," Davies added.

"I cannot think of another town of Basingstoke's size that has such a lowly football club.

"It needs a lot of money but the opportunity to make the club a success does exist."

Davies said there would be a budget, though what this is has not yet been determined. In the short term, investment would be affected by the amount the company would have to pay to purchase the club.

Davies, who has been a high-profile and often controversial figure at the Camrose, does not yet know whether he would take up a position at the club should the deal go through.

Razzak recently announced his intention to carry on as Basingstoke chairman for three years, making the club financially independent before stepping aside. If this goal is not achieved within three years, he has indicated that he would stay on rather than leave the club in financial difficulty.

However, ibetX would not be willing to wait three years and would like to own a club within 18 months, meaning that Razzak would have to quit the club early if he wants to sell to the company.

Razzak is concerned that the takeover talk could unsettle the progress being made at the Camrose but Davies said that this was not the intention when he decided to make ibetX's interest public.

"We wanted to keep everyone informed and to gauge what the sentiment is," he explained. "If the fans hate the idea, it is best that we know about it. We would rather find out now than later."