The long running takeover saga at Tunbridge Wells Football Club seems to have ended, with Gary Stevens withdrawing his offer to take over the club.

The preposed takeover which has been in the pipeline for many months now seems dead after a dramatic extraordinary general meeting of the club. During the meeting Gary Stevens withdrew his offer to take over before a ballot was held on the issue.

The main bone of contention seems to have been the conditions attached to the new lease on the Culverden Stadium which Mr Stevens was seeking from the council. The council had initially demanded that over eighty thousand pounds worth of delapadations to the ground must be rectified before the new lease could be signed.

Despite the club managing to reduce this costs significantly Mr Stevens decided that the deal for his takeover of the club was not quite right and he has therefore walked away from the deal.

Mr Bourne went on, 'The final deal with the council would have involved the club surrendering it's lease on the site and running the club via a licence from the council. This would have the benefit of removing all of the delapidations on the current lease, but could leave the club in a difficult position. I felt this was the wrong thing to do for the good of the club as, if Gary Stevens pulled out for some reason the club could only get the lease back if we could prove we had sufficent funds to rectifiy all the delapidations, which of course we have not got.'

Mr Stevens had this to say regarding the failed take over, 'Having gained the backing of the commitee, they put it to their members who voted in my favour a number of months ago. In simple terms the commitee have now decided that they don't think it is necessarily the best thing for the club. It would seem that there are members who think exactly the same. My association with the club is certainly causing a divide, and that is the main reason I have withdrawn my preposal. I feel that the best way for the club to progress would be along the lines of my preposal, there had been lots of hard work and effort put in by a number of people to try to sort the lease out etc. If the members don't want me there, if the current commitee don't want me to own the club, run the club and invest in the club then that is why I have backed away.'

Gary Stevens feels it is now unlikely that he will continue his association with the club, 'If the club do not feel that my offer is right that is up to them, I wish the club good luck and I hope they do well.'