Scholar studying move into Forestry service

IRVING SCHOLAR, under whose chairmanship Tottenham Hotspur almost went bust, is part of a consortium seeking to take over Nottingham Forest.

Scholar, a 48-year-old millionaire and life-long Spurs fan living in tax exile in Monte Carlo, has teamed up with Lawrie Lewis, another millionaire tax exile in Monte Carlo, and Phil Soar, a Nottingham businessman and author.

Theirs is one of four take-over bids being presented to the Forest annual meeting tomorrow before an eventual decision on a new owner, possibly at a future emergency general meeting.

Although Scholar is not particularly welcome at Tottenham at the moment, there are many people in the game who miss his enthusiasm, and other club chairmen have encouraged him to get back into the game," said the author Alex Fynn.

But the return of the controversial Scholar may be of concern to those seeking a secure future for Forest after a recent turbulent period which have seen debts rise to around £10 million and left the team languishing near the bottom of the Premiership which Scholar played a big part in helping to form.

Scholar was a visionary. He also turned Tottenham into the first club to become a publicly quoted company. However, it was felt he went too far, too fast. Spiralling ground redevelopment costs and a loss-making diversification into leisurewear left the club with between £10 million and £11 million debts.

He eventually sold out to Terry Venables and Alan Sugar in 1991.

There was further controversy two years ago when Spurs were punished heavily by the FA for infringing rules on payments to players during Scholar's period in charge.

Venables once said of Scholar: "He attracted the nickname Irv the Swerv. He was a man full of charm, who looked smooth enough to skate on. But I never knew what he was thinking behind that well-polished front.

"He interfered from the start when I became manager. One of the Spurs' employees told me: Scholar does it everywhere around the club, and he always wants to be there when the photographs are taken."

Scholar's consortium say they will pay £10 million now for the club - some to buy shares. the rest to go towards the debt and make another £5 million available to buy players. They would then float the club on the stock exchange to raise another £20 million.