A GROUP of Worcester City shareholders have launched a bid to oust the club’s board of directors.

The group, which includes former directors Derek Jones, Paul Curtis and David Little, have issued the current regime with a demand to call an extraordinary general meeting.

Their aim is to replace the present board and conduct a review of the financial situation at St George’s Lane.

They feel the club is not being run properly and fear the state of City’s accounts, which they allege are five months overdue to Companies House, could see the club fold.

Supporters Richard Widdowson, Richard Bentley, local businessman Michael Baldwin and Martin Pinches, of Pinches and Sons, City’s main shirt sponsor, make up the rest of the group.

The present board will have 21 days to convene an EGM, at which the club’s shareholders will choose between the two parties. The EGM must be held within 28 days and if the current board refuse the demand, the new group have the required backing of 10 per cent of the shareholders to force the meeting themselves.

Former director Jones said the seven-strong group had made an attempt six weeks ago to force an EGM but it had been rejected as invalid by City’s company secretary Brian Lancaster.

A statement from the group read: “It is our opinion that the present board of directors and their management of the business is causing untold uncertainty to the club’s future.

“Unless change is brought about swiftly the current situation cannot, in our opinion, be maintained and it is only a matter of time before the business collapses.

“We have called for an EGM in an attempt to remove the current board of directors and bring about change to WCFC.”

A Worcester City club spokesman said: “We cannot comment until we have taken legal advice.”

Jones said: “We feel we have no option but to affect change by going to an EGM and get the shareholders to vote. If the shareholders vote that they back the board as it is at the moment, then so be it and we will walk away.

“We are very worried about the financial circumstances the club is in and its ability to generate the income it needs.

“What we want to try and achieve is to stop borrowing money to make the club pay for itself. How we’re going to achieve that is going to be difficult but we’ve got a lot of ideas and we hope we’ll be successful.

“We think that we can improve the situation for the club. We’re not here to be doom and gloom, we are here to say we offer a very real alternative. I would like to think that we can do a better job.”

The group has expressed concern about the viability of the proposed stadium move to Nunnery Way and it is unclear whether an EGM would effect the deals in place with St Modwen Properties and Careys New Homes.

Jones added: “For years, the way out was the new ground, it was the be-all and end-all of everything and it didn’t matter about making things profitable at the Lane because we were moving. Look where we are now, the debts gone up every year and we’re still quite a long way from moving I believe.”

The group also say they would elect a member of Worcester City’s supporters trust, due to officially form in August, to any new board and are 100 per cent behind the on-pitch management team of Richard Dryden and Carl Heeley.

St Modwen Properties and Careys New Homes were unavailable for comment.