THE chequered past of Minehead Town Football Club will not affect its glittering future, according to new chairman Colin Gardner.

He pledged to continue to work hard to turn around the flagging fortunes of the club after revealing he had discovered previously undeclared debts of just over £32,000.

Last month the Free Press reported that Mr Gardner had stepped in and offered to buy the lease of the stadium, ground and club buildings for £59,995 from local businessman Barry Richards.

However, that deal appeared to have been put in jeopardy when thousands of pounds of debts to drinks suppliers, electricity, telephone and water companies were discovered.

The debts had been run up over the last 12 months by the previous management team, headed by former director of football Peter Bate.

Mr Gardner put the financial problems down to little more than ignorance and said he was confident they would be paid off penny by penny.

He said: "I sat down the other night with Peter and I worked out a plan with him. The people who are owed money will be paid.

"I have accepted liability for all the bills from August 1 and I want the people of Minehead to know that Minehead Town Football Club is a creditable organisation and that it is being run properly."

He said news of the debts never swayed his faith in the club's future and promised he was a man of his word.

"I said I would always be upfront with people and I intend to be dead straight. I am living up to my word by investing in the club and being honest from the start.

"I am not baling the club out - everyone is having to work hard to make sure the club has a strong position for the future," Mr Gardner said.

He has already enlisted the help of players, ground staff and members of the Minehead Sports and Youth 2000 Committee - formed to oversee the club's future financial business - to re-paint the dressing rooms.

His next plan of action is to re-decorate the entire club once the lease is signed and sealed in his name at the end of this month.

He added: "There is no place for people who sit on their butts in Minehead Town Football Club. A lot of commitment has already been shown and as a result we've made a £158 profit over the last two weeks."

Mr Gardner is also planning to hold an open forum meeting at the club to give people the chance to take a look around and ask committee members about their plans for the future.

Much of those hopes and plans are being pinned on attracting young blood to the club, predominantly through the town's youth and boys teams.

The other priority for the committee is to start making money to pay back Mr Gardner's initial investment to give the town another chance of owning and running its own club.

Meanwhile, Mr Bate has decided to step down from his position as president of the club due to work pressures.

He was praised by Mr Gardner for all he had done to save the club in the 1990s.

Mr Bate said he was delighted that the new Minehead Sports and Youth 2000 Committee had formally taken over the day-to-day running of the club.

He told the Free Press: "It is almost four years to the day that I read an article on the front page of the Free Press saying that Minehead Football Club was about to go out of existence and I felt I had to do something to help, particularly as its history stretched back over 100 years.

"It has always been an uphill struggle with a history of failures to contend with, but it was patently apparent that it was important for the club to acquire the lease of the stadium again and for it to become a family club."

He said he was particularly pleased to have been able to introduce Mr Gardner to the club, who in turn was in the process of acquiring the lease of the stadium and ground, and he wished the club well for the future.

He added: "The last stage of my role is to put in place the appropriate action plan for the remaining old debts of the club to be cleared so that the new committee can concentrate solely on raising the funding to repay the cost of the stadium purchase over the next five years when they will own it outright."

l The club issued its own statement when news of the debts came to light.

It said: "Mr Colin Gardner, the new chairman of Minehead Town AFC has uncovered debts of over £32,000 after a full investigation at the football club, prior to him purchasing the stadium, function room and ground lease.

"Mr Gardner, when elected chairman in July, did warn of tighter financial controls with efficiency, as well as accountability, to make Minehead Town AFC a well-run, organised and creditable company.

"The new Minehead Sports and Youth 2000 Committee, of which Mr Gardner is also chairman, has control of all finances at the stadium prior to the committee's purchase of the lease from Mr Gardner over the next five years.

"Mr Peter Bate, previous director of football at Minehead Town AFC, has formulated a plan to enable all of the debts discovered to be paid, at no cost to the football club.

"Mr Bate, with regret, has resigned as president due to business pressures and is no longer connected to the football club."