THE flamboyant businessman once hailed as the saviour of Darlington Football Club appeared in court yesterday charged with managing a company while bankrupt.

Reg Brealey was seen as the man who could take the Quakers to the top of the premiership when he bought into the team eight years ago.

But his dreams of a 10,000- seater sports complex, costing £1.5m and complete with hotel and fast food restaurants, came to nothing.

He left the club in 1997 and yesterday a jury at Blackfriars Crown Court, in London, heard how he was declared bankrupt in October the following year with debts of more than £3m.

Mr Brealey, 66, who also sat on the boards of Lincoln City, Sheffield United, and Grantham Town, was banned from running companies.

A jury heard how he immediately resigned as a director from Antrac Investments Ltd - the main shareholder in Grantham Town FC.

But it is alleged that in reality he broke the law that disqualifies bankrupts from running companies by contin- uing to manage Antrac's affairs.

Mr Brealey accepts that he carried on working for Antrac after October 1998, but only as an unpaid consultant.

Giving evidence, he claimed that he became bankrupt after he entrusted his financial affairs to his brother while he was living in India for four years, managing a textile company with 18,000 employees.

"My brother cheated, fleeced and gambled on horses and lost everything," Mr Brealey said.

"I got called back urgently by my wife. But by the time I got back I lost the liquidity. It was horrendous."

Mr Brealey had more than £16m in assets, but as he could not easily dispose of them, he was declared bankrupt - and banned from acting in the management of a company.

He claimed he had lost £250,000 from his own family trust investing in Grantham Town.

Lindsay Burn, prosecuting, said in his closing speech that a number of documents revealed his involvement in Antrac, including signed letters to Grantham council.

Antrac Investments Ltd went into voluntary liquidation on May 23 last year.

Mr Brealey, of Welbourne, Lincs, denies one charge of being an undischarged bankrupt being involved in the management of a company.

The jury is expected to retire to consider its verdict on Monday.