Bill Bratt set to resign as Port Vale director
Last updated on .From the section Football
Former chairman Bill Bratt will resign as a director of Port Vale, once the League Two club have completed a deal to secure new investment.
A statement released on Thursday said: "[Chief executive] Perry Deakin is in advanced negotiations with parties relating to investment in Port Vale.
"Bill Bratt will step down from the board of directors immediately after this investment has been secured.
"Indeed, the investment is conditional upon Mr. Bratt stepping down."
Speaking to BBC Radio Stoke, acting chairman Mike Lloyd said he was hopeful the deal to secure new investment would be completed within the next few weeks.
"The projected new investors indicated they would like to see change at board level," he said.
"Bill has taken this into account and decided that when this new investment is in place, which hopefully will be in mid-September, he would step down completely from the board."
Bratt relinquished his role as chairman in July following several months of protests against the board of directors.
A protest march was staged before the opening game of the season at home to Crawley on Saturday.
Meanwhile, local businessman Mark Sims has rejected the chance to become a director.
He was sponsored onto the board by Vale's majority shareholder, pop star Robbie Williams, at the EGM that took place at the club in June.
However, Sims requested that if he was to take a position on the board, Bratt and fellow director Glenn Oliver would have to resign.
"It became clear for me that the only way to unite the supporter groups was for certain resolutions to be met," Sims told BBC Radio Stoke.
"It was a proposal that I thought was quite clear and would see Port Vale move away from the mess that it is currently in."
