League Two club Cheltenham Town issue a statement confirming they’re in takeover talks with ex-Burnley chairman Mike Garlick.
The Gloucestershire outfit’s principal shareholders have signed a letter of intent with Mike Garlick, owner of Antequera FC and St Joseph’s FC, granting a period of exclusivity.
The club, founded in 1887 and based in Gloucestershire, competes in EFL League Two. Garlick, with nearly 20 years in football, led Burnley FC to two Premier League promotions and a seventh-place finish in 2017/18.
His current clubs, St Joseph’s (Gibraltar) and Antequera (Spain), have seen recent success, including Europa Conference League qualifications and La Liga 2 playoff contention. Garlick also founded an international IT consultancy and served on the Premier League’s audit board.
Chairman David Bloxham emphasized Garlick’s potential to secure the club’s financial future while preserving its community values. No further announcements are expected for now.
Glad to hear this.
Cheltenham definitely needed somebody of Mike Garlick’s higher-level expertise, especially on the operational aspect.
A welcome boost for the club in what had been a challenging summer thus far.#CTFC 🔴🐦 https://t.co/KSS8EjeR8B
— Gabriel Sutton (@GabSutton) June 21, 2025
Mike Garlick
Former Burnley chairman, 61
Joined board at Turf Moor in 2006, became chairman in 2012
Played leading role behind the scenes with his hometown club during successful Sean Dyche era pic.twitter.com/HaoeKuWXQc
— Jon Palmer (@JonPalmerSport) June 21, 2025
CLUB STATEMENT:
The Board of Directors of Cheltenham Town Football Club is delighted to announce that its principal shareholders have signed a letter of intent including a period of exclusivity with Mike Garlick, owner of Spanish club Antequera FC and Gibraltar club St Josephs.
Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system.
Founded in 1887 and nicknamed the “Robins”, they have played at Whaddon Road since 1932.
Mike Garlick has worked in football for almost 20 years, from 2006 first as a director and then chairman and majority shareholder of Burnley Football Club. Under his stewardship he achieved two promotions to the Premier League while chairman and kept them in the Premier League for six seasons out of seven, including a seventh place finish and European qualification in the 2017/18 season. Burnley was profitable in every Premier League season whilst he was chairman.
Mike currently owns St Joseph’s FC in Gibraltar which has qualified for the Europa Conference League for the last three years running and been drawn against Northern Ireland club Cliftonville FC and has also finished in second place for two years running in the Gibraltar league since he acquired the club in 2022.
Mike also owns FC Antequera, based near Malaga which currently plays in the Spanish 3rd division and which recently qualified for the playoffs for La Liga 2, the Spanish equivalent of the EFL Championship in his first year of ownership.
Mike has served on the Premier League audit and remuneration board and was jointly responsible for appointment of senior Premier League executives between 2018 and 2021.
Prior to a career in football Mike spent 20 years founding and developing MBA Michael Bailey associates into an international IT consultancy, floating the company on Nasdaq Europe in Brussels. He has a degree in technology and management from the University of Bradford, lives in Hertfordshire and is married with 2 children.
Chairman David Bloxham said: “The Board and principal shareholders have worked tirelessly over the last nine months to find the right investor who can secure the financial future of the club whilst at the same recognising and maintaining its identity and community values. We are delighted to enter into a period of exclusivity with Mike Garlick and believe his interest in the Club will herald an exciting future for the Club and its fans.”
There will be no further announcements for the time being.
This is how fans reacted as Cheltenham issue a statement confirming they’re in takeover talks with the ex-Burnley chairman…
@MarkHalliwell1: First impressions – a safe pair of hands with good experience and a good record of running a top-level football club. Let’s see how it progresses. #ctfc
@TaylorCTFC: Good experience and success at top flight football, done good with his current owned clubs, it all looks very hopeful. Fingers crossed it gets over the line.
@mayhem357_mark: It’s been a long time coming but it feels we can look forward with optimism now. A genuine football person with the millions we need to build a new main stand and to unlock the commercial potential to become a competitive league one side. #ctfc 🥳🥳🥳🎉🎉🎉
@MattMS_YouTube: OWNS A CLUB NEAR MALAGA, SORT PRE SEASON TOUR
@GrumpyMcDave: Initial view of this is positive, experience at a higher level and the financial clout to make a difference. Also, potential pre-season tours to Spain. What’s not to like?
@JoshTalksEFL: can’t wait for little old cheltenham to be sat in championship in 5 years
@justinp84140091: All good news for the town up the robins
@whippy31: This is great news for my club!! #ctfc I hope he succeeds!! Burnley a well run club and have been for many years! Hope he brings success to Cheltenham!
@BennyHodge92: All in on this. Great background and did great things at Burnley. Board would’ve made sure he is the right person to take us forwards. Won’t happen overnight but great things could be happening for the best team in the shire. Up the Town
@TaylorCTFC: Don’t know much about him but by the sounds of it this could be very promising, just hoping it all finalises and we can be on the rise again. Up the town 🔴⚪️ #ctfc
@natedigidy89: Never in doubt, get everyone off the transfer list, get new contracts into Archer and Thomas 🙄😂
@93_price: Yet another potential #salop buyer moves onto another club. Fed up with the state of the club at the minute and the transparency which is evident from Cheltenham here shows just why we’re where we are!
@ShaneSt85775523: Could make a duff return more likely maybe. Good news this
@mayhem357_mark: We might now get some pre-season tours to Gibraltar and Spain 😃😃😃😃😃😎
https://t.co/cUbc04AzPs pic.twitter.com/EwHL2cAmrz
— Belch (@Belch_CTFC) June 21, 2025
#ctfc make it happen @CTFCofficial https://t.co/nu116aofQN pic.twitter.com/YxvgjP6ZkC
— euan cardew (@cardew_euan) June 21, 2025
