CRISIS-HIT Darlington Football Club is only a week from disaster, administrators said last night.

The warning came as former chairman George Reynolds, who placed the Quakers into administration before Christmas to avoid a winding-up order, vowed to fight bankruptcy proceedings brought by creditors.

Although he failed to appear at Durham County Court yesterday, Mr Reynolds' barrister said he would be fiercely contesting the case.

The hearing, brought by a group of financiers known as the Sterling Consortium, was adjourned.

Mr Reynolds insists he has nothing to fear from the proceedings, but time is running out for the club that he once hoped to take to the Premiership.

Next week is the deadline for a workable deal to be found - otherwise the Quakers will face liquidation.

The April 22 deadline was imposed by the Inland Revenue, which is owed about £460,000.

Administrator David Field hoped that he would be able to put together a rescue deal that would keep the club alive.

Last week, Sterling became the new owner of the club's Reynolds Arena, and the group is believed to be interested in buying the club as a going concern.

But Mr Reynolds, who says he is owed almost £20m by the club, has vowed to veto the plan unless Sterling improves its offer.

Such a move would almost certainly plunge the Quakers into liquidation. The only hope would be if the administrators could show there was some prospect of a solution being found.

But with both Sterling and Mr Reynolds unwilling to compromise, that looks increasingly unlikely.

Mr Field said: "If a week from now there is no change, we will either put out a voluntary arrangement anyway, knowing it will be rejected, or we will go back to the court and say we have done all we can - the administration is at an end."

He said the next seven days were of crucial importance to the 121-year-old club, with all hopes being pinned on Sterling and Mr Reynolds coming to an agreement.

If the administrators believe a settlement is close they may seek an extension of the deadline, but the two parties are understood to be nowhere near striking a deal.

Sterling's decision to proceed with bankruptcy proceedings against Mr Reynolds will not have improved relations between the two.

Mr Reynolds did not attend the private proceedings, but his legal representative, barrister Michael James, said afterwards: "All I can tell you is that there was an application for bankruptcy made by the Sterling Consortium.

"That application was fiercely contested and the result was that the matter is going to be adjourned to a later date, possibly to the High Court in Newcastle. We will continue to fiercely contest this matter."

Sterling lent a total of £3.9m to Mr Reynolds between May 2002 and November last year.

It was supported by a guarantee from Mr Reynolds that he would repay the money if the club defaulted.

Sterling launched bankruptcy proceedings because it did not get the money after calling on that guarantee.

Greg Dawson, who represented the group at yesterday's hearing, declined to comment afterwards.