THE confusion over who exactly owns Faversham Football Club has taken a new twist with the re-emergence of Sal Aisawi.

Mr Aisawi’s arrival as chairman during the mid-1990s captured the imagination of the national media, but for the past few years he has been living in his native Saudi Arabia.

His son Karim, who still lives locally, maintains that his father has been keeping a watching brief on events at Salters Lane and has been horrified at what has gone on there in recent months.

Karim, 21, says his father, a former Saudi international, remains both the owner of Faversham Town FC, and Faversham Town Limited, a company set up to look after the club’s interests.

He claims the shareholders of Faversham Millennium Ltd, another holding company led by managing director Tony Hillier-Carter, have no right to be running the football club.

Karim, who had two spells as a player at Salters, the last under Simon Kay, said: “When my father returned to Saudi Arabia he thought he had left John Glover, who is a family friend, in charge.

“He was shocked to learn a couple of weeks ago that this man Hillier-Carter was having anything to do with the football club.

“The company, Faversham Town Limited, is 95 per cent owned by my father, with John Glover and Terry Whitehead each owning two-and-a-half per cent.

“He set up the limited company to help support the football club and his dream was to establish a health and leisure complex so that nobody needed to fund the club.

“He laid down guidelines on how the club should be run but now people have come in and put paid to that.”

Karim said that his father had cleared a number of debts when he took over at the club, but he was sceptical that those now at the club had delved too deeply into their pockets.

“These people say they’ve put money into the club but where’s the evidence?” he added. “I’ve seen figures of £90,000 quoted but if that’s the case Faversham should be in the Nationwide Conference.”

Karim said his father was taking steps to clarify the situation at Salters Lane but the uncertainty about who is actually in charge could deter anyone considering getting involved in the future.

Bill Clark, long-serving secretary/manager of Tyler Hill, has revealed that he was interested in taking over the club and had opened talks with John Glover.

He did, however, add that news that Mr Aisawi was still involved in the club had come as a shock.

“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” he said. “I was led to believe John Glover and Tony Hillier-Carter were running the club, but this puts a very different slant on things.

“I’m still interested and my aim would be to try to take the club back to its roots, but until this is resolved things will have to go on hold.”

Mr Hillier-Carter claims to be both chairman of the football club and managing director of Faversham Millennium Ltd.

Town remain suspended by the Kent County FA for non-payment of fines and it looks increasingly likely that they will not play again this season. The Go Travel Kent League’s management committee are due to meet tomorrow (Friday).