Witney Town Football Club could be in new hands by Christmas. Chairman Brian Constable is to recommend to the club's shareholders that they accept a takeover offer for the football club at a meeting in the boardroom on Tuesday, November 28, writes Russell Smith.

The offer for an undisclosed sum has come from Mariziane Pub Holding Company, whose head office is in Bournemouth.

The company is run by three directors Roger Alder, the former Witney Town groundsman and a club shareholder, Mickey Lee and Andy O'Shea, who both have links with football.

Lee was at Southampton as a youngster, while O'Shea played for Maidstone and Dover.

Mariziane, a leisure company, own a series of pubs and clubs including the Mount Bay pub at Nuneham Coourtenay and have just bought JW's nightclub at Reading.

It was believed that Mariziane's offer for Witney Town was 50,000 for a 15-year lease plus a weekly rent of 1,000 making it an 800,000 deal.

But Constable denied that these figures were correct. "That's a pure guestimate," he said. "People do speculate and that's the trouble.

"I cannot discuss that because the shareholders are entitled to know."

The Witney Town chief is the majority shareholder with around 5,000 of the club's 9,847 shares, but he indicated that he would be abstaining from the vote.

He said: "I shall be recommending to the shareholders that they accept a figure for their shares and that they accept the takeover which has been put forward.

"It will be a recommendation on my part, but not for my benefit. I do feel the football club needs some new blood and new direction because I have not got the time to devote to it."

He added that an alternative for the shareholders could be to buy his shares, appoint a new chairman and take over the running of the club themselves.

But Constable, who would retain ownership of Marriotts Stadium Limited, stressed that he wasn't walking away from the club.

"It is not as if I am walking away," he said. "I have found a solution to the problem."

Mariziane declined to comment until after the shareholders' meeting.