A TRAUMATIC week has seen Warrington's Rugby League club pulled back from the brink of extinction.

The Wolves were left staring into the abyss last Friday when the consortium set to take over the club suddenly collapsed as the Emerson Group and Martin Dawes Ltd pulled out of the deal.

Greenalls were left owning 90 per cent of the shares, having bought out the old board for £1, without the cash to fund the club due to difficulties with its own share price.

Hopes of finally cutting the noose of debt that has been slowly strangling the 119-year-old club were suddenly extinguished and it was heading towards voluntary liquidation.

Warrington Borough Council then stepped in with a plan to buy the leasehold for the century old Wilderspool ground, thereby providing the cash to pay the debt.

The council is saying little at present but land value experts have been running the rule over Wilderspool since the weekend and a move to buy a parcel of land around the Causeway area won approval in a secret session of the policy committee on Monday night.

Council Leader John Gartside said: "As a council we are very concerned about the situation and are examining every legal strategy to ensure the club thrives.

"We are confident that on a two to three year view, a new stadium can be constructed and the club taken from strength to strength."

Warrington Wolves chief executive John Smith said: "The next step is to make sure we get a realistic value for the ground so all the requirements of all parties are satisfied.

"We need to get the best value to make sure we can invest in the best players and take the club forward.

"The crucial factor from here will be ensuring that the revenue comes in to make the club successful. The fans will play a vital part in that."

The Emerson Group was unavailable for comment as to its decision to pull out of the deal.

A Martin Dawes spokesman said: "This is a commercial matter and therefore the company believes it is inappropriate to comment."

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.