THE consortium of local businessmen who want to take over crisis club Dover Athletic are close to achieving their objective.

The club announced last night that a "verbal agreement" had been reached between the man leading the consortium, former director Jim Parmenter, and the club's major shareholders, John and Alan Husk.

But Mr Parmenter stressed there were still a couple of loose ends to tie up and that his group would be making one final check on the club's financial position before finalising their investment plans.

Mr Parmenter said the Fighting Fund was "somewhere near" the £48,000 which the club needed to stay afloat, and he also felt that Dover could still avoid relegation from the Ryman League Premier Division despite being joint bottom entering the New Year.

He said: "Avoiding relegation is going to be a big ask - I reckon we need to win two thirds of our remaining games. But if everyone pulls together, it might be possible. We'll certainly give it a go."