THE future of Dover Athletic is as uncertain as ever with claim and counter-claim being made by some of the parties involved. Negotiations to sort out the club's finances have apparently been on the brink of conclusion for several weeks.

New chairman Gordon Cowan was upbeat about the club's future last month, but a projected deal has yet to gain the agreement of all concerned and manager Neville Southall has now voiced his growing frustration with the situation.

Southall said: “There is a lot of negative activity at the club behind the scenes that doesn’t help the players or myself.”

Cowan is still working hard to try to resolve the situation, saying: “Things are still very delicate. The fans will be the first to know once something happens.”

Meanwhile, former chairman John Husk has issued a statement detailing his role in the protracted negotiations. Husk has been keeping a low profile since Jim Gleeson's resignation as chairman in October plunged the club into crisis. But, as has been well documented, Husk and his brother Alan, are still the club's majority shareholders with 110,000 shares between them.

John Husk says he and his brother have been willing to surrender their entire shareholding for free since last April, provided they were relieved of their responsibilities as Dover Athletic's bank guarantors. Husk claims this offer has not been taken up and explained: “We have never blocked any move to broker a deal.

“In fact we agreed to the deal Gordon Cowan was talking about two weeks ago. We don't want to muddy any waters. We have never hindered negotiations and have supported the club as bank guarantors.”

“Our only concern is to make sure the club remains buoyant,” emphasised Husk, who said there was no way they would get involved with the club again. Gleeson, meanwhile, has said that he is prepared to continue putting money into the club but said: “The top and the bottom of it is that this club is losing money hand over fist.

"I will only continue to support the club if I feel other people are putting money in.”

Gleeson claimed that, under the deal drawn up around two weeks ago, the Husks had agreed to transfer their shareholding for nothing and write off their loans to the club - provided a whole deal was put together. He said it had taken 15 months of negotiation to get the Husks to agree to this position.

Initially, he added, the Husks had been willing to surrender only a portion of their shares, after John Husk stepped down as chairman in November 2000. Gleeson also revealed that he has decided that he does not want to take control of the club by gaining a majority shareholding.

The so-called “Asian consortium” was a part of the much-discussed deal that appears to have fallen through. Former Whites director Jim Parmenter, now vice-chairman of Margate, still holds around 15,000 shares in Dover Athletic and says he is willing to surrender them for virtually nothing. He says he would like to give them to the Dover Athletic Supporters Trust, which is being officially launched this week. Parmenter said he had not agreed to the “Asian consortium” deal because he was concerned that the projected new investors might not have the best interests of the club at heart.

Whites general manager Bill Williams said: “There could be a deal on the table for those who really want to pick it up. Every day something different happens. We're talking to everybody and seem to get to an agreement stage, and then something different happens.

“Jim (Gleeson) has said he is there to support the club if needed but he does need some help. Sadly those people are not forthcoming."

Williams admitted that the uncertainty surrounding the club's league status next season was further complicating the situation. If the club are relegated from the Conference, there must be a doubt over whether the home gates will continue to hold up around the 1,000 mark next season, but any new investors will want a clear idea of what income they can expect the club to be generating.