ACCRINGTON Stanley managing director Dave O’Neill has expressed concerns about proposals for a supporters’ trust to own the club – and says he will not resign unless he is certain that Ilyas Khan’s plans are in the Reds best interests.

Khan, who is Stanley’s non-executive chairman and is also the club’s main creditor, told fans at a public meeting on Tuesday of his proposal to convert £200,000 of money owed to him into new shares and then hand that 66 per cent stake to the supporters.

But O’Neill has doubts over whether a new share issue can happen without the official approval of shareholders - and most importantly the majority shareholder.

Fifty-one per cent of the club’s shares are currently registered at Companies House with former chairman Eric Whalley, although they are due to be transferred to O’Neill when his protracted takeover is completed.

“We have spent two years fixing the situation at the club and now Ilyas wants to fix it again,” said O’Neill, whose objection to the proposals meant he did not to attend Tuesday’s meeting.

“We have been trying to make the club self-sufficient and we are there now.

“The first year we lost £300,000, then we lost £150,000 and this year we are aiming to break even. With the money from the Newcastle game we should make a healthy profit.

“We were behind on the accounts and it has taken us time to get to where we wanted, but we are now able to publish monthly accounts. The club is not in the bad position people think.

“I still haven’t seen a proposal in writing so until that happens, I don’t know. It’s all fluffy at the moment.

“But other clubs have done it and faced the same problems we have been trying to get away from, ending up short of cash.

“Why go away from something that is working and do something that has failed at other clubs?

“If it is right for the club, I will consider stepping down. But I need to see it in black and white.”

Khan, who says it has been agreed to allow Whalley to travel on the team coach to matches again, is due to publish initial proposals next week and O’Neill expects an AGM may take place next month.

O’Neill has been in charge of runn-ing of the club for more than a year but his future was thrown into uncertainty at the end of August after claims he had resigned following a meeting between himself, Khan and president Peter Marsden.

“It was suggested to David that he step down from the day to day running of the club and Rob Heys is given the opportunity to do that,” said Khan.

“In terms of the board, I have asked David to stay on.”

But O’Neill insists that he never agreed to resign and he remains at the club, although chief executive Heys is in charge of day to day affairs.

“I have e-mailed everyone to tell them I have not resigned. The club isn’t financially viable enough for Rob to do everything on his own.

“You would have to hire someone and pay them £50,000 a year to do the job that I’m already doing, and where is the club going to get that from?

“If Ilyas funds it, we’re not self-sufficient,” he said.