Brown swoops for League defender

Terry Brown's rebuilding of Aldershot Town continued today when he announced the signing of Peterborough United's uncompromising right wing back, Dean Hooper.

Hooper, 31, is a direct replacement for Lee Protheroe who has rejected a new contract at The Rec. Renowned as a tough tackling player who has the sort of "winner" attitude Terry has been seeking in the squad, Hooper also possesses the sort of attacking ability needed in a wing back that has been missing in players asked to fill in that role.

Hooper becomes the third player brought to Aldershot by Brown in a fortnight - the second directly from a high standard Football League club. However, Hooper is familiar with non league football having played for Kingstonian and represented the England semi-professional side.

Brown has also confirmed that negotiations with a number of other experienced players and young talented stars of the future are ongoing, but refused to be drawn on when any other signings may be secured.

K's Consortium May Sue Auditor by Tony Flood

Members of the consortium which failed in a £500,000 bid to buy Kingstonian are considering taking legal action against the club's administrators.

The consortium of fans and former directors was furious that their offer - the highest - was rejected by administrators Begbie(s) Traynor.

Meanwhile, fans are still waiting to find out if outstanding major creditors will agree to accept an offer which would end Kingstonian's risk of expulsion from the Ryman League.

Chairman Alan Kingston said: "Members of the consortium which tried to buy the club and others who supported them, including former directors, are considering legal action against the administrators.

"We have no axe to grind with the Khosla family who have purchased the club. They have acted correctly, but we feel the administrators acted inappropriately in turning down the consortium's bid, and also that of Brentford.

"Brentford's offer was portrayed as a hostile bid, but their officials assure us that they would have allowed Kingstonian to carry on playing at Kingsmeadow and drawing the income from the bar and function room."

Kingston added: "The goal posts were moved several times during negotiations with the administrators. Senior partner Nick Hood told the consortium that a bid of £400,000 should be sufficient, so they offered £402,000 and had it turned down. Then they bid £500,000 - and still had it rejected."

Consortium leader Malcolm Winwright, a Kingstonian supporter for 40 years, said: "If legal action is taken it will be on a matter of principle. The aim would not be to try to change the deal that has gone through with Mr Khosla, with whom we have no argument.

"There could be a lot of clubs in a similar position and an action taken would make those clubs aware of the pitfalls.

"Mr Rajesh Khosla has stated that he will guarantee the money to settle with creditors. My understanding is that he is seeking donations, but will make up the shortfall himself.

"Our consortium had raised a total of £700,000 so that we would have had enough to settle with creditors and relaunch the club."

Hood defended his decision-making process: "If members of the consortium feel sufficiently aggrieved to issue a writ, we will deal with it when it happens. The offer was conditional and main creditors Barclays Bank would not have accepted it. Why should they have taken a loss?

"The reason I rejected the Brentford offer was that I had no confidence they would be able to find a way to enable Kingstonian to continue.

"The funding is now virtually in place to settle with creditors, though we have still to reach agreement with the Inland Revenue. The target figure is £100,000 and contributions have come from a number of sources."

• All of the current squad are being retained, apart from Eddie Duah and Leon White who are both now out of contract.
  
• All other players are still under contract, apart from Liam Collins.
  
• Neither Steve nor Kim Harris have yet (as of Wednesday evening) signed a contract for next year, but both certainly expect to in the next few days or weeks.
  
• Steve feels that the main areas of the team which need strengthening are at the back in particular another dominant centre-half and a left-sided midfielder.
  
• He expects next season to be tough, but he obviously wants Ks to be challenging at the top.
  
• He finds watching football on television really boring, apart from the last twenty minutes..

Saturday 3rd August, kick off 3.00pm
Hastings Town (Dr Martens Premier) v Kingstonian

Tuesday 6th August, kick off 7.30pm
Chertsey Town (Ryman League) v Kingstonian XI

Other games are still being arranged, and the club are awaiting confirmation from Hampton & Richmond Borough regarding the 13th/14th July tournament.