The sale of Southend United has been confirmed in principle as an agreement has been reached with a consortium being led by Australian businessman Justin Rees.

Rees and a group of local businessmen have been in discussions for several weeks in a bid to save the Shrimpers.

Mr Rees is listed as the co-founder of Eighty20 Solutions on his LinkedIn page having studied at the University of Technology in Sydney.

Mr Rees has previously worked for Liquid Capital Group Derivatives Trading where he was a trainee trader before becoming program manager at Westpac.

Mr Rees was then also program manager at Transport for NSW before setting up Eighty20 Solutions in March 2018.

He has since stepped away from the company and had his sights sets on the Shrimpers.

Mr Rees has met with members of Blues staff and has also spoken to MP Anna Firth.

A club statement said: “We can confirm that an agreement for the sale of the Club has been reached with a consortium led by Justin Rees.

“Everyone is working towards a completion date of 1 November 2023, that is when the consortium will formally take control of the Club.

“The collaborative approach to agreeing this deal would not have been possible without the support of creditors and the assistance from the Leader of Southend City Council.

“We recognise that this has been a stressful time for all associated with the Club.

“We would like to thank our staff for their incredible loyalty and also thank all our stakeholders for their patience.”