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Hull City Supporters Trust have today launched a bid to buy the club with a letter of intent handed to club chairman Assem Allam.

It has been revealed HCST are working with SportyCo, a crowdfunding organisation, with the aim of purchasing the club from the Allam family.

The deal has been facilitated with the aid of Alexander Jarvis, who played a role in Barnsley owner Chien Lee’s previous interest in City two years ago, with the new consortium having instructed the club’s owners they are preparing a £45m bid to purchase the club.

Marko Filej, CEO of SportyCo, has already met with Assem Allam and following an official letter being sent to instruct the owners of their desire to buy the club, the group hope negotiations can begin this week regarding a proposed deal.

It is understood this latest bid is the third offer for City, with Paul Duffen’s Saudi-led consortium and another unknown bidder also vying for control of the club.

As previously reported Duffen is confident of concluding a £40m purchase of Hull City within a matter of weeks having completed an audit of the club and with due diligence set to be finalised in days.

However, the HCST with their new backers are hopeful by trumping Duffen’s consortium by an additional £5m they have bought time to conduct their own negotiations.

SportyCo, who are a shirt sponsor of Spanish La Liga side Espanyol and have Brazilian stars Ronaldinho and Roberto Carlos as ambassadors, recently facilitated a deal with Brazilian second tier side Avai in an effort to help them raise £15m through cryptocurrency, the electronic monetary system, a form of crowdfunding.

A statement issued by SportyCo says “the deal structure will see a consortium of UK/US investors and Hull City AFC fans working together to ensure the club's future success, by including fans into the ownership structure of the club.”

The Mail understands Hull City fans and other football fans will be offered the chance to invest through a crowdfunding offering, with both SportyCo and Jarvis having already sourced their own investors as part of the deal.

It is understood HCST are liaising with SportyCo on the deal in an effort to help raise awareness of the need for funding support, with the organisation planning on having fan representation on the board should the deal go through.