Mark Lawn has poured cold water on new claims that City have been targeted by an outside buyer.

Reports often surface of supposed interest from businessmen buying into the club.

And joint owners Lawn and Julian Rhodes have said they would step away if the right successor ever came along.

But Lawn insists that nobody is at the negotiating table offering serious cash right now.

He said: “There has always been someone looking at Bradford City since I came here three years ago but none of them have come up with the money.

“I’ve always said, if it’s in the interests of both Julian (Rhodes) and myself to go, we will go without making a penny profit. If someone’s going to put in more than we can, we will do that.

“When I first came in and was naïve, I thought it would be easy to get investment in and move the club on.

“A lot of people know, so you get them coming in and saying this and that, but it never goes further than an inquiry and a chat.

“We haven’t signed confidentiality undertakings yet and that’s when it starts to get a little bit serious. I think it’s just people fishing.”

The current recession makes it even more difficult to find someone willing to splash out on a club. Unlike some others, City have not put out feelers to detect any interest.

Yet despite their League Two status, Lawns reckons they would be an attractive proposition.

“This club are in a very good state of affairs,” he added. “The shareholders are only myself, Julian and his father.

“There is no debt into it apart from my (£1m) loan. It’s a very simple club.

“When people start looking at Crystal Palace, for instance, it’s a lot more complicated.

“But it’s important to me that if someone takes over this football club they know the history about it as well.

“It wouldn’t be just about the money but the long-term financial security.

“You look at Blackpool and their rich Latvian. If I could find one of them I’d happily go back to having a pie and a pint in the stands.”

Boss Peter Taylor has been backed with new training facilities for next season. The Valley Parade pitch is also being renovated after much criticism.

Lawn admitted that the board’s cash could only stretch so far.

“We’ve put all our money in and can’t invest any more than what we’ve got. If someone could, we’d do what we feel is best for this club.

"But you have to make sure that people are serious. We’d say that we would go without an profit so it’s a fairly cheap club to buy, although I would want warranties.

"But we’ve had all this talk before. At this present stage, nobody has come forward with the money to be able to invest in the football club.”