A PLAN by Wrexham Supporters Trust to secure the future of the football club has now received pledges totalling £50,000.

And its chairman, Richard Owen, has hit back at claims its bid for the Reds will fail.

Mr Owen was responding to comments by hotelier Stephanie Booth on the ongoing saga of who should become the club’s new owners. Mrs Booth, who has been in close contention to take control, said she remained in favour of the trust (WST).

But she said she was not “terribly impressed” by its plan, announced over the weekend, to raise £1 million to buy the club.

Mrs Booth said: “If the Trust go for sole control the club will go under because they haven’t got a sustainable financial model.

“Everyone knows the club loses money and what they really need is an [Chelsea billionaire owner Roman] Abramovich with a money tree in the back garden.”

She added: “I would go in as a partner with them but would not give them my money to spend as they would lose it because they are not business people.”

Mr Owen said he was “disappointed” by Mrs Booth’s interpretation of the club’s bid.

He said: “We have made it very clear that we don’t want to go it alone and that we are looking for private investors as well as money from individual fans.

“Our proposal is to transfer ownership into a community interest company which would have a mixture of local public sector partners, such as the council, Glyndwr University, the Rugby Football League and Welsh Football Association.”

Mr Owen said he resented Mrs Booth’s attack on WST’s business credentials. “Our board includes a company solicitor, management consultants and senior HR managers who have plenty of experience in running businesses much bigger than Wrexham FC.”

- John Marek’s bid to raise £200,000 to keep the taxman at bay has stalled – for the moment at least.

The former MP and AM and lifelong Wrexham FC fan pledged to boost the troubled club’s finances after the club was hit with a winding up order as a result of large scale debts. But speaking last night he revealed his hopes for a speedy resolution of the Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs issue would have to be postponed.

“We were hoping for an answer tonight but I think we will have to wait another day, hopefully no more than 36 hours, before we can announce any good news,” he said. We’ve got to pay by Thursday now or we’ll face being kicked out of the play-offs and that’s something the town would not forgive us for.”

But Dr Marek remained confident that he and his anonymous donors, who are working together to boost the club’s finances, would be able to produce the sum needed to save the club from the taxman.

He said: “I am still 99.9 per cent confident that we will be able to pay the bill.

“There are no major setbacks and things are proving to be as expected. We’re merely dotting the ‘i’s and crossing the ‘t’s now.”