Takeover at troubled Devon football club completes

The takeover of a Devon football club has been completed by a consortium of local businessmen.

Creditors of Torquay United have approved a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) which will see all of the club’s creditors paid within six months.

Michael Westcott, Mark Bowes-Cavanagh, Tom Allen, Matt Corby, Rob Hawes, and Simon Robinson will take over 93% of the club’s shares, with the remaining shares owned by around 600 fans.

Bowes-Cavanagh and Westcott will become joint-chairmen while the rest of the consortium will join the club’s board of directors.

Former owner Clarke Osborne put the club into administration in April after announcing he was no long able to fund the club in February.

Osborne’s fellow directors George Edwards and Mel Hayman have also resigned from the board.

“We are delighted that creditors have accepted the administrator’s thoughtful proposal and that the transaction is now complete,” Bowes-Cavanagh said in a statement on the club website.

“It now allows us to work with the staff at Plainmoor and execute on our plans at speed.

“We’d like to say thank you to all the staff who have worked tirelessly over the past few months under extraordinarily difficult circumstances.”