Darlington FC owner George Reynolds said last night he had decided to sell his main business to concentrate on his "first love" - the Quakers.

Mr Reynolds, 65, has clinched a deal to sell his George Reynolds UK chipboard factory for an undisclosed sum.

But the multi-millionaire gave an assurance that all 180 jobs were safe at the Shildon plant in County Durham.

The buyer, Vertex Panel Products, has agreed to keep on the entire workforce, he said.

Though news of the sale will come as a shock to the town, the shedding of the Shildon factory has been on the cards for sometime.

The reformed safeblower said: "I just had too much on my plate at one point this year.

"I was running half a dozen businesses which left me no time to devote to my new first love - Darlington Football Club."

Mr Reynolds said that the sale would allow him to press on with the new stadium for the Quakers, which is on schedule to open later this year.

Although he has decided to part with his lucrative chipboard laminate business, he will keep a Shildon company manufacturing kitchen units, an engineering plant in Coundon and a half-share in a dockyard venture on Tyneside.

Parting with the chipboard business will, however, mean Mr Reynolds will lose his high ranking on the official Rich List.

"Because of the current financial climate, I have had to take £50m less on the deal and will not receive any cash from the sale until next year, but it is a price I am prepared to pay to devote my time to Darlington," he said.

With millions of pounds of his money already spent on the stadium and more needed, Mr Reynolds predicted that the coming months would be tight financially.

But he joked: "I don't think I'll be reduced to busking at the gates - not yet any way!"

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