It is with great regret that, following weeks of speculation and uncertainty, my wife Rachel and I have to inform fans of Telford Tigers that the agreed sale of the club has fallen through.

Prior to announcing our decision to step down, on Friday 3 April, we had been in early negotiations with a number of interested groups. At that time, we were confident that a new owner would quickly be in place to continue the work we and our team of helpers had achieved over the past six years.

On Saturday 9 May, a contract was signed by Mr Gabe Gray, transferring the assets of the club into his ownership. We understood that he had been in talks with coach Claude Dumas and a number of players at the EPL finals weekend in Coventry at Easter, and that his plans for the business were well advanced.

Although we agreed to maintain the Telford Tigers website, to enable the new owner to communicate with the team's fans, we were expecting to have no further involvement in the running of the club from that point on.

We were aware that Mr Gray was in discussions with a number of interested parties about the arrangements for the coming season, and expected him to make announcements about his team and sponsors within a short time.

It came as something of a surprise to us to read an announcement in the Shropshire Star on Thursday 28 May that the club's new owner was Neil James, and that a decision had been taken to pull the team out of the English Premier League. We had not had any correspondence with Mr James at that point and contacted Mr Gray for clarification. We were informed that Mr James was to be the public face of the team but continued to have no contact with Mr James.

Under the terms of the contract, assigning ownership of Telford Tigers, a payment was due to be made on  31st May 2009.   Despite repeated requests, the monies due have not been forwarded.

On Sunday 14 June, Mr Gray informed us that he, and his business partner had decided to pull out of the contract. We are currently considering our legal position.

To say we are disappointed by the events of the past two months would be an enormous understatement. We personally managed and financially underwrote the club for nearly six years and, although we felt we could no longer run the team ourselves, we genuinely believed it would continue to progress and succeed under new ownership.

We entered into an agreement in good faith and with the expectation that this was the best option for the team, the players and the club's supporters. The current situation means it is now too late for any other group or individual to enter a team into the league next season.

Once again, we would like to thank those people who have stuck by the team through all of this, and it remains our hope that Telford will get the senior ice hockey team we believe it deserves.

We understand a fans consortium is being investigated, to put a team together for season 2010-11, and would urge anyone who wants to support that initiative to register their interest by emailing  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Meanwhile, we are not going to be available to moderate and maintain the Tigers website for a while, so suggest supporters use www.thehockeyforum.com or other club websites to keep up to date with ice hockey news.