Hayward to let Wolves go - and write off £40m

Wanted: new owner for Premiership club. Free of charge, but successful candidate must be local and have thick skin and deep pockets.

Wolves go in the shop window at Bolton today, the house that Sir Jack Hayward built having effectively been put on the market by the 80-year-old chairman. In a final act of philanthropy towards the club, on which he has lavished £70m since 1990, the Wolverhampton-born, Bahamas-based multi-millionaire will write off £40m in return for a promise of continued investment in the stadium and a team currently in bottom place in the league.

"It will be a hand-over, not a take-over," Hayward said yesterday, after revealing his readiness to give the club to someone with the right cash, commitment and credentials in a dinner speech at Molineux the previous night. "I want Wolves to remain a Wolverhampton-owned company. This isn't a sale. It certainly isn't a fire sale, because the club is very healthy, financially and otherwise."

Hayward made his intentions plain in characteristically eccentric fashion. "It was typical Sir Jack," said Wolves' chief executive, Jez Moxey. "I've never seen so many businessmen's jaws drop.

Moxey added: "Ideally for him, people from Wolverhampton will put together a consortium. He is beginning to feel he has done his bit for this club. He is prepared to write off the tens of millions still owed to him, and wants to talk to anyone with a genuine desire - and pretty deep pockets, I might add - to take the club on.

"That's the 'cost' if you like. Whoever comes in must convince Sir Jack they have the means and desire to advance this club, keep it as a Premiership force, improve facilities. It's a wonderful gesture. He is owed £40m but doesn't want a penny back, or anything for his shareholding." Hayward will, however, seek a legally binding assurance from the new owner(s) that 25 per cent of his holding be made available to supporters through a share issue. He will not allow foreign interests to take over in the manner of the Russian, Roman Abramovich, at Chelsea.

The value of Wolves would dip sharply if the club were relegated. Such an outcome would be cruel on their benefactor, coming so soon after Dave Jones' side fulfilled his dream by gaining promotion to the Premiership last May. Hayward, who made his estimated fortune of £160m from the development of the port at Grand Bahama, which he owns, bought his home-town club for £2.1m in 1990. The former League champions, FA Cup winners and pioneers of European football were emerging from their darkest period.

During the 1980s, Wolves had fallen under the dubious ownership of the Bhatti brothers, entered receivership and were threatened with losing their League place to Enfield. Molineux was dilapidated, its old main stand unsafe for their few fans. Three consecutive relegations took them from the old First Division to the Fourth, where Bury's visit drew a paltry 2,205 in 1986.

With Graham Turner as manager and Steve Bull scoring freely, Wolves were already reviving when Hayward moved in. Yet it took 13 years, £60m, four more managers, some agonising near-misses and occasional hostility from frustrated fans to restore them to the élite, where they have struggled after Jones made only low-cost signings this summer.

Now, according to Moxey, Hayward wants to attend games "as a fan" and to unburden himself of the "problematic details" of running a club. His fellow director Rachael Heyhoe-Flint said Wolves were "Sir Jack's life". Far from walking away, she stressed, it would be a condition of any hand-over that he remains president.