Entrepreneur Mr Denis O'Brien has emerged as the major shareholder in Doncaster Rovers Football Club Ltd. The company is negotiating a deal which would see a major supermarket group building on the club's grounds.

More than 90 per cent of the Doncaster company's shares were bought for more than £3.5 million sterling (€5.7 million) in August 1998 by an Isle of Man company called Westferry.

Mr O'Brien's associate and accountant, Mr Aidan Phelan, fronted for the deal. People involved with the Doncaster club believed he was working for an Irish investor or investors, but the identity of the beneficial owner was not confirmed.

Last week, the Moriarty tribunal disclosed a memo written after a meeting between Mr Phelan and two executives from Investec bank, where Mr Phelan was recorded as saying that UK solicitor Mr Christopher Vaughan was under instruction not to disclose information about deals involving Mr O'Brien.

"He [Mr Vaughan] acted for DO'B [Mr O'Brien] on property transactions in the UK, such as the Doncaster Rovers transaction, where confidentiality and privacy were required," the memo recorded Mr Phelan as saying. Investec, formerly GE Capital Woodchester, may have funded the Doncaster deal, Mr Michael Tunney told the tribunal.

A spokesman for Mr O'Brien declined to comment on the matter.

The Doncaster company owns the lease on the team's stadium, which is in a prime location in Doncaster, close to a race course. The land is owned by the local council. Concerns about dealing with an offshore company which represented an unidentified beneficiary were among matters which delayed a planned property deal.

The deal means a new stadium will be built for the club at another location owned by the council, thereby allowing development of the current stadium site. One reason the Doncaster council was concerned about dealing with an unidentified beneficiary was that its previous owner, Mr Ken Richardson, held his shareholding through an Isle of Man company. Mr Richardson was tried for trying to burn down the grounds.

It is understood the issue of the credibility of Westferry has now been sorted out.

After the purchase by Westferry, ownership of the football club, as against the lease on its grounds, was transferred to a company run by businessman Mr John Ryan. Mr Ryan is a millionaire who runs a plastic surgery firm which numbers model and TV presenter Melinda Messenger among its customers.

Also involved in the club is Mr Peter Wetzel, who is known to run racehorses at Irish meets.

Westferry's shares in Doncaster Rovers Football Club Ltd are held by Walbrook Trustees, a trust company owned by Deloitte & Touche in the Isle of Man.

Walbrook also holds Mr O'Brien's interest in a house in Spain which he bought in summer 1996 from the late Mr David Austin.

The £150,000 paid by Mr O'Brien for the property was passed on by him some months later to an offshore account belonging to Mr Michael Lowry. Mr Lowry has said the money was loaned to him and returned in February 1997.

The Moriarty tribunal is investigating the matter.