York City chairman Glen Henderson offers to sell club to fans after unpopular six months in charge of Minstermen

The Conference club's supporters trust, who have been offered his stake, are now considering options to buy it.

Henderson took over from the unpopular Jason McGill in the summer, in partnership with the trust.

But he has come under increasing fire, reaching a high point when he decided to sack manager John Askey following clashes between the pair. He replaced him with Huddersfield Town's former head of football David Webb.

Now Henderson has written to the trust saying he is willing to trigger a buy-back clause allowing the fans group to buy him out because it would be "in the best interests of the football club."

Part of the reason for Henderson's involvement was the trust could not afford to buy McGill out outright. Instead it took a 49 per cent stake.

Under the clause, it can buy Henderson's 51 per cent shareholding at a price set by an independent valuation, although the businessman said he would consider any offer which matches the investment he made to buy the club in July.

Hartlepool-born Henderson, who grew up in and played semi-professional in South Africa, was accused of interfering in the management of the team by Askey, who was an extremely popular figure amongst fans after winning promotion via the Conference North play-offs in May.

After making the differences public, Henderson decided to sack Askey.

The trust held an urgent meeting on Monday to consider four options: Crowdfunding to achieve a 100 per cent supporter ownership model, forming a consortium of multiple investors, attracting a new investor partner or declining Henderson's offer.

They are "keen to hear from any individual or consortium that may be interested in acquiring a majority shareholding in the football club" at [email protected] before Friday, January 6.

They would prefer the club to be fan-owned, although even under Henderson budgets were one of the bones of contention with Askey.

"The Trust board are extremely disappointed that despite best efforts, things haven’t worked out with Glen as hoped," it said.

"We are determined to learn from our mistakes and find a way forward that all supporters can get behind.

"Whilst the football club has faced many recent challenges, significant positive changes have been introduced and we are confident that given time the club will flourish.

"Now more than ever, we need supporters to come together as a united force."