THE current owners have promised they will only sell to someone with "the best interests of Fareham Town at heart" after deciding to put the club on the market.

Former chairman Bob Ralls, who handed over the reins to his nephew Nick six months ago but remains a director at the club, said the decision to sell the Sydenhams Wessex Premier League club was taken to "make sure Fareham Town does not go backwards but goes forwards."

With business booming for the Ralls Group building firm, Ralls senior said current Fareham executive directors Nick and Will Ralls and Gary Hailstone - who are also directors of the Ralls Group - are finding it increasingly difficult to give as much time as they want to the club.

Having undergone a major bowel operation and been suffering from a muscular problem, which affects his walking - both during the last two years - Ralls senior felt he too has been unable to "give the time he would like to the club."

Explaining the decision to seek a new buyer, which they advertised in today's Daily Echo and this weekend's Pink, Ralls senior, 70, said: "We have been running the club for seven years and have tried our utmost to make a success of it.

"But we feel we are at the stage where we need either somebody else to come in and work alongside us or themselves to take the club forward.

"We would like whoever takes over to have the best interests of Fareham Town at heart because we have grown to love the place. It needs an injection of new motivation and new blood.

"We could plod along but that is not what we want or what the supporters want. We want this club to be one of the top non-league clubs in the area.

"The fans are probably upset we are leaving in some ways but the positive is we are going to try to do nothing but the best for the club."

For full story see today's Daily Echo.