Championship club’s Chairman expresses interest in takeover of football club

York RLFC owner Clint Goodchild has expressed interest in purchasing a majority sharehold in football club York City.

Goodchild hasn’t long been in charge at the Knights but has been a driving force behind their development, the appointment of Andrew Henderson as well as the rebrand.

He is now interested in taking over the National League football club in the same city.

“I think the club has got as much potential as the rugby club does.” Goodchild told YO1 Radio.

“York is an incredible city, the opportunity of the facilities and it’s got an incredible fan base.

“Some of the numbers in attendances this year that they were drawing, it’s very positive. I don’t like to sit and judge until we’ve got our house clean.

“There’s positive conversations taking place.

“There’s a lot of moving pieces. It’s so hard to comment on, there would be a lot of positives in having a unified front, but there’s also a lot of questions.

“It has to work for everyone involved, there’s positives, there’s question marks there.”

You can read more at the York Press.

There has been a lot of talk about takeovers lately in rugby league.

Recently Keighley Cougars’ owners denied rumours of a London Broncos takeover.

“The rumour of Ryan and Kaue buying London Broncos is absolutely not true.

“The club has no debt and if fans think Ryan and Kaue aren’t the right people for the job, then a trust could be set up and the club can be a community club.

“Ryan expressed that if they weren’t committed to the club, why would they have put their necks on the line by taking the tough decision regarding Rhys?   That wasn’t a decision by owners who were walking away, it was a decision which underlines their frustrations and ambition.    They stressed they are fundamentally passionate about Keighley Cougars.

“All the changes that have been made are because the club is on the up, not the down and due to the frustration with recent performances.”

Whilst Castleford Tigers confirmed interest from two separate parties:

“Over the past five years, we have been in discussions with various people/consortiums to either come in and invest or take over and run the club. On most occasions, they have been looking to finance the stadium and land to run the club which is not a model for success and sustainability. We had one potential buyer in discussion just before the pandemic, but his interest understandably fell away when lockdown happened as during the pandemic two of his businesses suffered large losses and he was unable to follow up on the opportunity.

“Since coming out of the other end of the pandemic we have spoken to numerous people and we are now in the situation of having two different parties who are interested in taking the club forward. When we have any further news, we will post an update. In the meantime, the current owners and board along with the club staff, coaches, and players will continue to work hard to turn our season around.”