AFC Dunstable set to be taken over by Soccer Assist

AFC Dunstable share their Creasey Park home with Dunstable Town FC

A football club chairman who vowed to give the club away to the right people for free has found new owners.

AFC Dunstable - currently 10th in Southern League Division One Central - has officially named Soccer Assist as its new custodian.

The company helps youngsters get football scholarships in the US and is expected to take over in June.

Current AFC chairman, Simon Bullard, said having new owners "was the only way forward".

"We felt this was the most sustainable for the football club," he said.

The club and Soccer Assist are in the process of officially transferring ownership by the end of the season, on 15 April.

Mr Bullard, who originally joined the club as a player in 1991, is due to stay on until June.

During this time, Soccer Assist will be forming the new club board.

The new owners reassured fans the existing football committee would remain in place.

Junior Osei-Tutu, co-founder and director of Soccer Assist, said: "We hope to establish a full-time football education programme at the club, building on our success in the Milton Keynes area, to deliver a similar model to the town of Dunstable and the surrounding areas.

"We will also continue to strengthen the success of the U23s and the Women's team to uphold pathways for all players.

"We thank Simon and the committee for giving us this chance and we respect that we are going to be custodians of a club that is integral to the local community and very dear to its fans' hearts."