Harriers set to be sold next week

Kidderminster Harriers are likely to change ownership into the hands of Warwickshire-based businessman Chris Swan by the end of next week.

Harriers accepted a third bid from Swan yesterday to buy the club for £1, with the property developer putting in around £150,000 to keep the club afloat between now and the end of the season.

But, before the takeover can be completed, the prospective new owner has insisted on a legal due diligence process which will throw open the books at Aggborough.

However, that is the last potential snag that could prevent him buying the club he has been after since last October.

Swan was the 'mystery buyer' that former chairman Barry Norgrove lined up before the club was sold to his predecessor David Reynolds last October, who returned to the club for three months before cutting his ties completely last week.

Reynolds walked away without his part in the £93,000 that saved Harriers from administration when he came in, removing a stumbling block that had halted Swan's second attempt at a takeover before Christmas.

Swan was adamant that he would not pay off any loans made to the club and, as it stands, he won't have to - even a group of Harriers fans are forming a consortium that would settle Harriers' outstanding debts to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

But the 52-year-old's cash injection will keep the club alive until the end of the season and give him time to figure out how to make the Blue Square Premier outfit turn a profit again.

He said: "The initial aim is to get financial stability there and we will run it as a business, if we get it.

"The club will be funded until the end of the season and beyond but I am not going to be silly about it.

"If it happens, I want to try and build something that is sustainable."

Swan will come in as chairman should the takeover go through, the third man to act in the role this season.

But, on the pitch, Harriers are still in with a shout of making the play-offs, even during what has been a troubled period at Aggborough.

And it's that sort of ambition that Swan will be looking to mirror in the boardroom.

He said: "It's a great club, it's got everything there and hopefully, when we get through this, we can have a bright future.

"The club would have strong ambitions - I don't like getting involved in anything that doesn't have strong ambitions."