A STAR-STUDDED take-over bid that would have seen former Saints and Pompey boss Alan Ball become Salisbury City's director of football has come a cropper.

The ailing Dr Martens League Premier Division outfit was targeted by a four-man consortium comprising England hero Ball, comedian Richard Digance, radio DJ/ impersonator Mike Osman and Salisbury businessman William Harrison-Allan.

The high-profile quartet were ready to use their vast network of sporting and showbiz contacts to give the wilting Whites a much-needed kiss of life on the football front while leaving the freehold of the ground with City chairman and chief shareholder Raymond McEnhill.

But, according to Harrison-Allan, the deal has collapsed because of unacceptable clauses in the tenancy terms. Ball and company needed firmer guarantees that, having helped get City back on their feet, they would not have the rug pulled from under them.

If the take-over had gone ahead, Romsey-based entertainment stars Digance and Osman would have joined the board of directors and concentrated on fund-raising.

Taffy Richardson would have remained team manager but had top-drawer support from Ball and former Saints skipper Glenn Cockerill, who was lined up as player/coach.

Ball's son, Jimmy, was ready to take charge of youth football, working in tandem with ex-Saint Andy Cook, Salisbury's football in the community officer.

A good friend of Ball's, Harrison-Allan is chief executive of the Country Gentleman's Association and runs the 1966 World Cup Sporting Club.

He said: "All we wanted was to get Salisbury back on a strong footing. We were not going to get a salary or shareholders' dividends. We just didn't want the club to be left to rot - and that's what is in danger of happening now.

"But there was no security of tenure. We didn't want to put a lot into the club and then two years down the line be told they wanted to relocate, for example.

"I tried to do a similar deal 18 months ago when Geoff Butler was managing the club and I actually put a deposit down with the club's solicitors.

"They were up towards the top of the table in those days and, in the meantime, they have dropped to bottom of the league and it looks as if they have put up the white flag.

"If we had come in we would have brought in five decent players, all people on the periphery of the professional game, and perhaps saved them from relegation.

"Even if we couldn't have kept them up, we would have created enough interest to suggest Salisbury were going to be a powerful force in the future."

With Salisbury already 14 points adrift of fifth-to-bottom safety, speed was of the essence for the consortium. But Mark Groves, Salisbury's director of operations, said it was all moving too quickly.

He explained: "Our chairman Ray McEnhill is not a well man and the trustees of the club have a duty of care. To release the football operations side is a major decision which takes time and there was no way we could have sorted out something suitable so quickly.

"The positive thing is that the current operational team, which includes Taffy and his assistant Tommy Killick, are working on a longer-term strategy for the club's future."

Ball is currently out of the country but his son Jimmy confirmed: "My dad and the others saw a club in a precarious position and wanted to try and help, but the deal's dead at the moment."