Watson-Challis, who had been keen to offload the club as it was costing him a reported loss of £500,000 a month. Gurney claimed to be backed by "international investors", whose identities he never revealed. Within three days Gurney had sacked Luton manager Joe Kinnear and his assistant, Mick Harford; he had informed the popular duo of their dismissal via post. He blamed chief executive Peter Miller for the sacking, claiming that "on a brief visit to this club from Northampton Town [Miller was also Northampton Town's commercial manager] took it upon himself to dismiss the club’s manager and assistant manager". He also banned local newspaper Luton on Sunday, whose editor Aylia Fox said that "Gurney does not like us because we first broke the takeover story and have been the only paper since that has been telling it how it is.... [this is] straight from the you-couldn’t-make-it-up-if-you-tried department". He outlined plans to build a Formula One track around a 70,000-capacity stadium, which would have a removable pitch supported over the top of the M1 motorway on concrete rafters. He claimed the track would net the club £50 million in profit a year. This new stadium would be shared with NFL and NBA franchises. He also aimed to change the club's name to London-Luton Football Club so as to link the club with a local airport. Upon meeting midfielder Kevin Nicholls he informed the player that he planned to install a one-armed bandit with a £25,000 payout in the dressing room. He allegedly told investors Luton were "a grotty little club". He also raised the possibility of Luton merging with Wimbledon, a club located over 40 miles away, in order to secure a position in the league above. This idea had more of a grounding in reality as the move had come close to happening in 1983, when protests by supporters thwarted then-chairman Denis Mortimer's proposal. In 2004, Wimbledon controversially relocated to Milton Keynes to become the Milton Keynes Dons. The speculation damaged Gurney's credibility at Luton, with The Guardian reporting that "Gurney's naivety in talking publicly about such an unlikely scheme is alarming". Gurney had intended to appoint Terry Fenwick as manager, but fan opposition led him to reconsider. Former Peterborough United chairman Roger Terrell and player Lee Power were set to be named as chairman and vice-chairman, but quit after fans threw fruit at them upon their arrival at