{"id":674269,"date":"2026-05-16T07:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T07:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/674269\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T07:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T07:27:09","slug":"football-club-not-for-sale-despite-inquiries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/674269\/","title":{"rendered":"Football club &#8216;not for sale&#8217; despite inquiries"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The owner of Kettering Town Football Club has said the non-league side is &#8220;not for sale&#8221; despite &#8220;a number of inquiries&#8221; from potential bidders.<\/p>\n<p>Writing on the club&#8217;s website, George Akhtar shared a &#8220;clear and unequivocal statement&#8221; on his intention to remain owner of the Poppies, who play in the Southern League Premier Central division.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The announcement followed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northantstelegraph.co.uk\/sport\/football\/former-kettering-town-defender-piercewright-launches-ambitious-bid-to-take-over-poppies-8543842\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:a report in the Northamptonshire Telegraph;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;a report in the Northamptonshire Telegraph&quot;}\" class=\"link \">a report in the Northamptonshire Telegraph<\/a> that former Kettering player Brad Piercewright had tabled an offer for the club.<\/p>\n<p>Akhtar did not address the reported bid, but said he had received &#8220;a number of offers&#8221; for the club in the last year.<\/p>\n<p>He said: &#8220;I have given time to meet and listen to any individual that makes this approach, but my response has been consistent throughout: the club is not for sale as we are building something special for its future.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These approaches have been made due to the attractiveness of the club and the success that we have seen over the last two years since I took ownership.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>During Akhtar&#8217;s tenure, the Poppies have twice reached the end of season play-offs and in 2024-25 enjoyed a memorable FA Cup run, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cq52wq60v2po?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:including a shock win over nearby neighbours Northampton Town.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;including a shock win over nearby neighbours Northampton Town.&quot;}\" class=\"link \">including a shock win over nearby neighbours Northampton Town.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Akhtar added that he remained in discussion &#8220;with local authorities&#8221; about a longer-term home for the club within the town of Kettering, as it currently plays its home games in Burton Latimer.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>He wrote: &#8220;I have no intention to sell but instead to drive this club forward to reach our goals, and this is a constant message that will be the focus for myself and the management committee as we move through pre-season towards another exciting season.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Do you have a story suggestion for Northamptonshire? Contact us below.<\/p>\n<p>Follow Northamptonshire news on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sounds\/curation\/p0cjdxq1?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:BBC Sounds;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;BBC Sounds&quot;}\" class=\"link \">BBC Sounds<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BBCNorthamptonshire\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Facebook;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Facebook&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bbcnorthampton\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Instagram;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Instagram&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Instagram<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BBCnorthampton\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:X;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;X&quot;}\" class=\"link \">X<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Related to this storyRelated internet links<img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778916429_470_.gif\"\/><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The owner of Kettering Town Football Club has said the non-league side is &#8220;not for sale&#8221; despite &#8220;a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,325228,325227,53039,325229,293376,85,325230],"class_list":["post-674269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-george-akhtar","tag-kettering-town","tag-northampton-town","tag-northamptonshire-telegraph","tag-southern-league","tag-sports","tag-unequivocal-statement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}