CHAIRMAN Paul Maynard insists Eastbourne Borough will press ahead with their own plans after takeover talks with a Kuwaiti investment company collapsed.

Maynard, who is chairman of the board, and Len Smith, chairman of the football committee, were in lengthy negotiations with The Kuwaiti European Holding Company (KEH) about purchasing the club.

Talks began last summer and a preliminary agreement for a takeover was put in place in January but the deal fell through two weeks ago.

The takeover would have seen substantial investment into the club – both in terms of the playing side and revamping the stadium – with the ambition of taking Eastbourne Borough into the Football League.

Although the collapse of the deal at the 11th hour is hugely frustrating, Maynard insists the club is not for sale and that the current board is totally committed to building a brighter future.

He said: “They had very ambitious plans for the club in terms of investment sufficient to take us up the leagues, assuming progress was made with the infrastructure of the club.

“The negotiations started at the end of last summer and they concluded a couple of weeks ago.

“We believed we had reached an agreement in January. We signed heads of terms which is the non-binding outline of a deal and we were working towards exchanging contracts on that basis but they broke off negotiations a couple of weeks ago. They said the terms of the deal didn’t work for them and the time wasn’t right for them.

“We didn’t go out of our way to look for it. From time to time people show an interest in the club and we are always interested in investment in whatever form it comes into the club. We don’t close the door on any possibility.

“Our bottom line has always been that we are not going to go down the route of a number of other clubs that have overstretched themselves, particularly with overseas investment, and gone under. We have always been a community club and the bottom line is we want to be here in 30 years’ time and we would not do anything that would jeopardise that.”

Maynard does not believe the deal will be revived and focus will now switch back to the club’s own plans which include the launch of the club’s new academy in September, the development of an all-weather pitch at the site and improvements to the East Stand.