CITY’S owners have stressed the club are not for sale after former chairman Gordon Gibb revealed he was considering launching a takeover consortium.

Gibb has indicated that he would be willing to team up with life president Jack Tordoff in an attempt to buy the Bantams. Valley Parade is currently owned by his family pension fund.

But owners Edin Rahic and Stefan Rupp have made it clear that they are not open to offers.

Rahic said: “Stefan said clearly at the player of the year awards that the club is not for sale – and that position hasn’t changed.

“We have had people asking about the club before. They see the club has massive potential and there have been requests.

“But we have never discussed it in detail because we are not interested in selling. The club is not for sale.”

Gibb made his potential interest public after a number of private conversations with Tordoff.

“Jack and I have always had the best interests of the club at heart,” he told the T&A.

“I’ve been on the sideline for a very long time but my love of the club has never gone.

“If it was felt that it was a good idea for a regime change, then Jack and I are up for doing it.”

Gibb was City chairman for 18 months resigning in January 2004 after falling out with co-owner Julian Rhodes. The stadium was sold to his family pension fund in August 2003 for £5 million.

He added: “The problem before is that we couldn’t really express ourselves as a board.

“We were so hamstrung with the £38 million worth of debt we inherited. It really was a daily siege of having to restructure and wrestle that debt into a more manageable arrangement.

“But hopefully now that a lot of time has passed, everything has been cleared up and the club is in a much healthier position, we would have a chance to express ourselves.

“With Jack’s experience of being chairman and my own, we think we’d have the skills to do a reasonable job.”

Gibb appreciates the mixed reaction that his move would make. Many fans have not forgiven him over his involvement during the club’s second administration 14 years ago.

But he insists he would still be open to allowing City to own Valley Parade again.

He said: “I always said we would be a safe pair of hands for the club and hopefully the fans will appreciate that’s what’s happened over the past 10 years.

“Although it’s not solely my decision but if I can help influence and give the club the ability to own its own stadium then I will try to make that happen.

“It was always the plan that the rightful owner of the stadium is the football club. If I can help make that happen, I shall do it.

“If the fans would like to be part owners or own their own stadium, that’s something that perhaps we could help make happen as well.

“That’s a model that’s quite successful on the continent. There’s a number of Serie A and La Liga supporters that own their own stadium and I don’t see why that couldn’t necessarily work at Valley Parade.

“But I’m waiting to see how it plays out.”

It is understood that Rahic and Gibb met once before, shortly after the club’s ownership had changed hands in 2016. But there has been no communication since.

Asked about Gibb’s comments, Rahic said: “Nobody has contacted us and they have my number.”