THE directors of Chester City are hopeful that a new co-owner of the Coca-Cola League Two club will be announced in the next week.

City have been searching for extra investment for the past nine months and following a meeting last night it appears that the search could be reaching a conclusion.

The legalities of the deal are being handled by Wirral-based solicitors, Anderson & Co., whose senior partner is City director Ian Anderson.

“We have had a number of meetings with the prospective new investor and hopefully all the relevant documentation will be signed and sealed early next week and we can then unveil our new co-owner and director,” said Anderson.

“It is no secret that we have been searching for another partner for months, and now thankfully our search would appear to be over.”

Supporters of Chester will be hoping that when the formalities are concluded and fresh investment is forthcoming, the transfer embargo that is currently hanging like a Sword of Damocles over the Deva Stadium outfit, will be lifted and the Football League will allow temporary loan players to join the club.

Meanwhile Chester are next in action tomorrow afternoon, when they travel to face fellow strugglers Barnet at Underhill.

City manager Mark Wright is looking forward to the game. He said: “We have done well in our last few matches. We deserved to beat Exeter a fortnight ago then the players did extremely well to come back and earn a draw against Dagenham and in midweek at Wycombe we should have been two up before they got anywhere near us. The result was an injustice to me.”

Midfielder Jay Harris returns to the squad after serving a three match suspension but defender Shaun Kelly’s knee injury is likely to sideline him.

CHESTER CITY (from): Danby, S Williams, J Vaughan, Rule, Linwood, Roberts, Wilson, Barry, Mannix, Harris, Ellison, Lowe, Partridge, Jones, Rutherford, Mozika, R Williams, Owen.