The club say they are in preliminary talks with "certain third parties".

Illingsworth told BBC Radio Solent: "It's good news, fans are a bit down after the departures of [Grzegorz] Rasiak and [Rudi] Skacel."

"Fans are also cautious, we talked to a lot of people last year and nothing came of it," Illingsworth added.

"It brought home the situation when the two players were sold, so the fact that things could be moving again on the takeover front has got to be good news.

"We were in a bid period for around eight months last year and nothing materialised, so we are cautious too."