Southport Football Club can today confirm that the majority shareholder Ian Kyle has finalised an agreement to sell his shares in the club to the Big Help Group Limited, subject to National League approval.
Ian Kyle said:
“My family and I got involved with this fantastic club at a time of turbulence and upheaval.
“We have come a long way since that first post-Back the Bid game against Bootle when we struggled to field 11 players.
“We have seen the club through the post- Charlie Clapham time of uncertainty, Phil Hodgkinson coming in and then moving on to Huddersfield, and then Covid and lockdown.
“We believe that we have made major improvements to the pitch and stadium, and improved the matchday experience massively.
“We have re-established the bonds between the playing staff and the fans, and really set the whole club up to move forward.
“We are however aware that the club now needs a further level of investment to take the club to the next level, and for that reason we have made the very difficult decision to sell our shares to enable that to now happen.
“Recent events have shown that it is not easy to sell a football club, or get people to invest, who are the right people.
“I am very pleased and confident that Peter Mitchell, and the Big Help Group, are now the right people to take this club forward.
“We have, in the last 12 months, spoken to a number of potential investors who have not in our opinion been the most appropriate to take the club where it deserves to be.
“Peter has conducted negotiations genuinely and honestly, and shown a real desire to take the club on and he clearly has great ambition to take Southport as far as possible.
“We as a family are confident that we are now leaving the club in the right hands.
“At present, we are simply awaiting approval from the National League, which we hope to receive imminently.”
Further statements from Ian and Peter will follow in the next few days.
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