Former Town chairman David Sheepshanks says that the club should have been sold in the summer of 2001 after the Blues had finished fifth in the Premier League and qualified for the UEFA Cup.

Sheepshanks, who stepped down last week after 14 years as chairman, says the club weren't in a position to withstand the hardships which were to follow relegation: "Looking back we could have sold the club in 2001. We never had an offer or any suggestion, apart from a share issue, to recapitalise the club but then we didn't see the need then.

"I wish we had been bold enough because then we would have been able to cope with anything that would befall us.

"We never had any fat on the bone to withstand the worst sort of rainy day you can imagine. It was not so much a rainy day as a tempest.”

After relegation in the summer of 2002, the Blues failed to sell enough players to make up for the financial shortfall caused by relegation and the following February went into administration, while the bond taken out with Norwich Union to pay for the two new stands hampered the Blues' ability to compete in the Championship for seasons to come.

The club was eventually sold to new chairman Marcus Evans late in 2007.

Elsewhere, ex-Blues striker Kevin Wilson has taken over as manager at Blue Square North Ilkeston Town.

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