A COMMUNITY company bidding to buy the Quakers have urged fans to show "patience and understanding" as the planned takeover of the club reaches another critical point.

Darlington FC 1883 chairman Denis Pinnegar and lawyers are due to meet outgoing chairman Raj Singh tonight in an attempt to find a way forward.

Mr Singh, among others, has been heavily criticised by fans on-line after he confirmed earlier this week that he did not want any of the money raised by supporters to buy the club - but would only sign up to a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) if DFC 1883 agreed to certain conditions about money which the club may receive in the future.

Mr Singh's stance, as the biggest Quakers creditor, means the CVA proposal is now likely to fail at the creditors' meeting on May 4.

DFC 1883 said it was aware there had been a number of negative stories in the media recently about the takeover proposal and said it could understand how this could lead to anxiety and anger among the fans.

However Craig McKenna, DFC 1883 board member and project manager, said the community company board were not contemplating any scenarios which did not include the saving of Darlington FC.

He added: "We can understand some of Mr Singh's frustrations as we had indicated to him that we would try to incorporate his clauses into the CVA. Unfortunately this was not possible.

"We are still confident that takeover will go through as we have plans in place for all eventualities.

"We would ask the fans to bear with us. We are confident that everybody involved, whether that is Raj Singh, the arena landlords, the media, as well as DFC 1883, are pulling in the same direction and want the same outcome, which is the successful saving of Darlington Football Club.

"We would ask the fans to try to show patience and understanding to all parties."