Alistair Bow sees new start for Nottingham

Notts County & Nottingham Rugby Club both play at Meadow Lane

Nottingham Rugby chairman Alistair Bow believes Ray Trew's takeover will be the start of a new era for the club.

Notts County owner Trew is poised to complete his takeover after a lengthy period of due diligence.

Shareholders will receive an offer from Trew this week and if that is accepted, the Green & Whites will officially become part of Meadow Lane plc.

"We're nearly there - and it's fantastic news for everyone concerned with Nottingham Rugby," Bow said.

"There has been speculation and comment about the rights and wrongs of this move.

"But I have no hesitation in saying that without the support over the past six months or so of Notts County, and Ray Trew in particular, we simply would not be here.

I would go as far as to suggest that the foundations of Nottingham Rugby will be stronger than they've ever been

Alistair Bow

"I know the memory plays tricks at times but people should never lose sight of the fact that we were literally living from week to week... relying on the directors to top up the wages and borrowing money all over the place. There was absolutely no future in that.

"It has taken a lot longer than we expected to get to this point but after the problems Ray encountered in taking over Notts County from Munto Finance, it is hardly surprising that he wanted to ensure due diligence was carried out in an extremely thorough manner."

Nottingham's very future seemed bleak and there was a very real threat that the club would be forced to close two years ago.

But now Bow is confident the bad times are a thing of the past.

"It's an exciting situation, one that we have craved for, for as long as I've been involved," Bow said.

"And although there's a lot of hard work to be done we're now able to tackle it with a totally different mind-set.

"Don't expect any dramatic overnight changes because that won't be happening.

"But we now have a permanent base at Meadow Lane, excellent working facilities at Lady Bay, and the opportunity to become far more professional as a business by drawing on the commercial, ticketing, catering and media resources at Notts County.

"I would go as far as to suggest that the foundations of Nottingham Rugby will be stronger than they've ever been. And although we must still run the business properly and live within our means, we have a magnificent opportunity to really build something."