CHESTER CITY have been approached by a consortium of businessmen from the Middle East, who are prepared to invest in the club and take a shareholding in the ambitious Coca-Cola League Division Two outfit.
Discussions between City chairman Stephen Vaughan and the Dubai-based consortia are ongoing, and Vaughan is upbeat about the proposals.
"It is an extremely exciting development and could assist this club in developing at a faster rate than even we had envisaged.
"The group of businessmen see us as a progressive club which has developed impressively, and they also see marketing and reciprocal coaching opportunities with Chester City."
Vaughan added: "The Gulf States are virtually an untapped market as far as English football is concerned, and the gentlemen would also like to see coaches coming over to learn from our methods, as well as a possible junior player progression in the future."
In another development, Vaughan revealed that Chester had made an enquiry about the availability of the Everton defender Peter Clarke.
The 22-year-old former England Under 21 international, whose father was part of the City managerial staff when Harry McNally was in charge at Sealand Road, has Premiership experience, and had loan spells at Blackpool and Port Vale.
"We have contacted Everton about Peter's availability, and if we receive a positive reaction we will take the matter further," said Vaughan.
The Chester supremo also reacted to recent speculation regarding the future of City's leading scorer, Daryl Clare. "I spoke to Daryl over the weekend, and we have agreed that he will stay with us at least until the end of this coming season.
"Irrespective of the interest that is being shown in Daryl by other clubs, I hope this gentleman's agreement puts a stop to all the speculation, and the player can now devote his efforts to assisting us in our push towards promotion."
City are in action tonight.
They travel to face Heswall with a mixture of first and reserve team players.
One player who may be given a runout this evening is former Mansfield Town striker, Iyseden Christie, who is currently on trial at the Deva Stadium.
