ALASTAIR Saverimutto last night confirmed he would relinquish his post as Cherries chief executive if ownership of the club were to pass to Adam Murry.

Bournemouth-based businessman Murry, working with former directors Jeff Mostyn and Steve Sly, is trying to put together a rescue package to save the ailing club.

And late last night, Saverimutto and co-owner Paul Baker reached agreement – in principle – to conditionally transfer ownership to the Murry group.

Murry would only gain outright control on the proviso that Saverimutto’s ongoing negotiations with a mystery Middle East party fail to come to fruition.

Speaking to the Daily Echo last night, Saverimutto described his deal as “the best for the club”, but also cast doubt over the likelihood of it being concluded.

Saverimutto said: “The Middle East deal relies on me committing myself to Bournemouth for three years and can only materialise if I’m prepared to do that. At this stage, I’m not 100 per cent sure whether I want to do that.

“To get to that deal, the club has to be funded. That is a simple fact of life. We find ourselves in this position because another deal didn’t go through by January 31.

“I’m questioning my wishes to proceed with the Middle East people because I don’t know whether I want to remain involved going forward. There is no question it is the number one deal.

“I’ve been working around the clock to do what’s best for the football club in the long term. I am questioning the viability of committing myself to the football club and this deal (with Murry) would mean that I would walk away from the football club to concentrate on other things.

“In recent weeks, I’ve had to ask myself whether I would be prepared to commit myself to that deal so, if any deal is done with the Murry group, there is no question that I would immediately step down.”

Although Saverimutto confirmed his deal with the Middle East party could be concluded at the start of April, Cherries have pressing financial concerns to deal with.

The club needs around £32,000 to settle a winding-up petition in the High Court on Wednesday, while the taxman is understood to be chasing them for around £200,000.

Player and staff wages are still outstanding for last month, although Eddie Howe’s squad received 40 per cent of their monthly salaries, delivered in cash to the changing room following Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Port Vale.

A handful of supporters called for Saverimutto and Baker to stand down during a peaceful protest at Dean Court on Saturday.

The following statement was issued by the Murry group last night: “Following a series of meetings during the past few weeks, an agreement – in principle – has been reached between the Murry group, Paul Baker and Alastair Saverimutto to acquire the club’s shares.

“This will require Jeff Mostyn to tear up his current legal agreement with Paul Baker and Sport-6 at significant personal cost and the group introducing more funds to bring some stability off the field.

“This proposal had been put on hold to give Cherries chief executive Alastair Saverimutto more time to bring in the much-talked about Middle East consortium.

“Sadly, this has not materialised in the required timescale, so this option must now be explored to give the club any chance of Football League survival.

“This is by no means a done deal as the trio have just days to fully understand the club’s perilous financial state and agree to settle the pending winding-up petition, while also trying to reach agreement with other pressing creditors, including HMRC.

“Time is against us but we will give it our all to reach a position of stability. We have a unique fans’ initiative ready to launch among other things, while we are also making progress on some larger, more long-term projects. The task ahead is huge and to even get close to achieving it, we will be heavily reliant on the fans and businessmen of this club giving us their full support.”

When contacted by the Daily Echo last night, Murry added: “I know Savi has been working tirelessly behind the scenes to try to get this deal together for the sake of the club and I take my hat off to him for that. In the interim period, we do have to step in to try to do something. We would always entertain whatever is best for the club.”

Baker said: “We’re working on resolving the short-term cash flow problems by speaking to a third party and that may, in time, lead to the ownership of the club being transferred to them.”