Notts County owners try to shake off Taylor Swift takeover talk

The owners of Notts County owners played down a report that they could sell the English League Two soccer club to American pop star Taylor Swift, saying in a playful social media post on Friday that they would "Shake this story off".

Owners Chris and Alex Reedtz said they were sorry to "disappoint the Swifties in our fanbase" in a Tweet laden with Swift song titles.

"There's certainly no bad blood between ourselves and Taylor but, at such an exciting time for us and the club, she surely couldn't have believed in her wildest dreams that we would relinquish our control," they wrote.

"We'll leave a blank space in tomorrow's pre-match playlist for a track from her newly re-released 1989 album as a gesture of gratitude for her interest."

Spoof newspaper The Weekend Sport reported that Swift was keen to buy Notts County, the world's oldest professional football club, following in the footsteps of Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney who own English fourth-tier club Wrexham.

"Bad Blood", "Shake it Off", "Blank Space" and "Wildest Dreams" are songs on Swift's album "1989".