FORMER Wivenhoe Town boss Richard Carter has tabled a five-figure fee to buy the club.The amount, believed to be £60,000, has been levelled by Carter, whose contract with the Broad Lane club was terminated on Thursday.

Mike Bacon

FORMER Wivenhoe Town boss Richard Carter has tabled a five-figure fee to buy the club.

The amount, believed to be £60,000, has been levelled by Carter, whose contract with the Broad Lane club was terminated on Thursday.

It's a dramatic twist from Carter, who guided the Dragons to seven straight victories, before losing his job last week.

“Yes, I have made a five-figure offer for the club,” Carter said.

“I feel they need to sell it, but I haven't done it for that.

“I've been at the club 10 days short of a year, which for me is quite something. The team has won the last seven and we've scored 36 goals and conceded about four.

“The players at the club still believe in me, but the squad will be too thin for them to maintain a promotion push.

“I feel very close to the club and the many people I have spoken to find it hard to belief what has happened.”

Wivenhoe chief executive Nick Murphy-Whymark said: “We have received an offer for the club.

“The offer is for the club only, as the ground is held in Trust, of which we pay a rent to Colchester Borough Council. The ground is not for sale.

“We have had a lot of support from local people since the weekend and it is hugely encouraging to see how people are rallying round and we have had many, many offers of support.

“We have a match at Needham Market on Tuesday and that is what we are concentrating on now as we move forward.”

Carter's reign at Broad Lane certainly revitalised a Dragons side who just failed in their attempts to stay in the Ryman League last season, and they have made an excellent start in their new surroundings in the Ridgeons League.

His sacking came as a bolt out of the blue, with the Essex side going well.

Carter is not adverse to management in the region, his former managerial clubs in the Ridgeons League, include Haverhill, Diss and Long Melford, the former from which he left in the same week Haverhill were playing Aldershot in the FA Cup fourth qualifying round.

Tonight Wivenhoe are at Needham Market in the Ridgeons League Premier Division.

mike.bacon@archant.co.uk