DIRECTOR Nigel Pearson is hopeful new parties will now come forward to take over the running of Cradley Heathens.

The club has announced that new owners are being sought after the current consortium decided they can't continue to manage the nomadic speedway side.

Cradley spent last season racing at Perry Barr after being forced to leave their previous base at Wolverhampton. They ended the campaign with a third place finish in the National League.

However, it has been a logistically difficult season for the management team with Pearson unavailable on occasions due to his broadcasting duties, Chris Van Straaten needing to give his full attention to Wolverhampton and Gary Patchett unable to attend events at the stadium.

Pearson said: "It has been a testing season and one that we have found very demanding. We now need others to come forward and take over.

"We will be doing everything possible to make sure the club can continue in 2016.

"We now want interested parties to approach us so we can talk to them about all of the options ahead. They will then need to speak to Perry Barr about leasing the track before coming back to us to discuss the next step from there.

"All options are open at the moment. We could sell the club or even loan it to the right people.

"Because we don't have our own track it means we are always in a precarious position at this time of year.

"Hopefully the new people that come in will be able to succeed where we have failed and find a new home for the club.

"I will be meeting with the council once again on October 15 and until we hear anything different it will be business as usual."

The current consortium, which brought the club back to league racing in 2010, are keen to emphasise their wish to see the Heathens continue into the 2016 season if at all possible.

To that end, a meeting has also been arranged with the interim board of the newly-formed Heathens Supporters Trust to discuss the situation.

A statement from the consortium added: "It is a very difficult thing for us to do, but unfortunately at this time we cannot continue for both business and personal reasons.

"It is our intention to do everything we can to allow the club to continue under new management next season rather than close the club down.

"Our sincere thanks to the fans and sponsors for standing by us in a difficult season at Perry Barr and to the support of the Birmingham track staff through Denise Drury and the excellent medical team.

"But special thanks to our team manager Will Pottinger for his sterling work once again."

Any interested parties are asked to email info@cradleyheathens.co in confidence.