Greek billionaire Alki David has withdrawn his interest in buying Coventry City after he claimed the Coca-Cola Championship club was "falling apart."
The 39-year-old businessman and movie mogul, who has a reported fortune of £4 billion, emerged as an 11th-hour challenger to Ray Ranson's bid to buy the cash-strapped Sky Blues, who are around £38 million in debt.
But after studying Coventry's finances David opted to withdraw his interest, paving the way for former Birmingham City full-back Ranson's Sisu consortium to takeover at the Ricoh Arena.
David said: "After looking through the finances and seeing the numbers, the club is falling apart. The debt does not tally. Good luck to whoever takes them on. I am certainly not getting involved.
"I had (Coventry director) Geoffrey Robinson here this afternoon when I was ready to commit. He left me a document on the finances of the club. After looking through the finances and seeing the numbers, it is no surprise that the club is falling apart. It is difficult to see how the expenditure was made the way it was, especially over the last three years."
Despite his scathing assessment of the club, David wished Coventry well for the future and hoped that Ranson's Sisu group were able to complete a deal. If Sisu are to take over, they must strike a deal before tomorrow, when Coventry must prove their solvency or enter administration and incur a ten-point deduction.
"I genuinely hope the other group can push a deal through because it is a club with a huge amount of potential," said David. "But there seems to be a lot of people involved who are emotionally attached and that is not good for business."
David revealed that another reason he withdrew his interest was because he had invested in a rugby club this week. He added: "That is a sport I understand and an announcement about who that club is will be made in the next couple of days."
