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The Al-Qadi family are in talks over the sale of Bristol Rovers to a UK-based consortium, with a proposed stadium site at the city's fruit market central to takeover plans.

Bristol Live has learned that discussions between the parties have been ongoing throughout 2019 and have reached an advanced stage, with the next two to three weeks a critical phase of negotiations.

The proposed buyers have identified the 11-acre fruit market site in St Philip's Marsh as the favoured location for a 20,000-capacity stadium and riverside development, although of paramount importance is securing the purchase of the land.

The site’s three majority shareholders are Total Produce, Fresca Group and Arthur David & Company, although it's the former which is seen as kingmaker in the process.

Total Produce regional managing director Nick Matthews detailed on BBC Radio Bristol on Tuesday how a bid for the fruit market was rejected earlier this summer, although the identity of the bidder was not disclosed.

Bristol Live understands that offer came from Rovers' potential owners, was in excess of £20m and still remains on the table and under consideration.

Although the identity of the individuals within the consortium is not yet known, it contains experts who possess experience in major inner-city developments and have had conversations with the Mayor's Office over the project.

Should the consortium succeed in purchasing the land that will then lead to a full takeover of Bristol Rovers from the Al-Qadi's subsidiary group Dwane Sports.

To help initiate the purchase of the land, the shareholders of the fruit market have also been offered a number of locations nearby in Bristol to move their businesses.

Some 300 traders work on the site and inevitably have concern over their future, however provisions have been made to minimise the impact on their livelihoods.

Wael Al-Qadi's optimistic claims on Saturday that the club hopes to be in a stadium within two years are wide of the mark with the process likely to take considerably longer.

Al-Qadi's claim that "technical work" to achieve planning permission is under way also remains confusing - the current board has had no input in the new vision for the club, with the plans exclusivity formulated by the club's potential buyers.

The Al-Qadis have effectively had the club up for sale for more than a year after becoming frustrated at covering losses, which totalled £65,000-a-week in their accounts for 2017/18, and the ongoing inability to find a new home for the club, which would help alleviate that financial black hole.

The desire for a new stadium has dominated the consciousness of Rovers fans for at least a decade and has only been heightened since the Al-Qadis purchased the club in February 2016.

However, Wael Al-Qadi's numerous declarations down the years have not come to fruition. The most recent plan on a site owned by the University of the West of England, which admittedly began before Dwane Sports bought the club, collapsed in August 2017.

Plans to redevelop the Memorial Stadium have also been considered, but the dense populaton of the area and the volume of housing around the ground, coupled with the fact that two of the stands have height restrictions, have made those an unrealistic prospect.

(Image: Michael Lloyd Photography)

Bristol Live understand that if the purchase of the fruit market is approved and the purchase of Rovers completed, there is confidence the site at the Mem can then be transformed into a residential development.

The site of the club’s proposed training ground at Almondsbury, known as The Colony, also remains overgrown and undeveloped with no sign of progress and the future of that asset remains unclear.