AN announcement on the immediate future of Darlington Football Club is to be made today.

Administrators Wilson Field have spent recent weeks in talks with would-be owners the Sterling Consortium and the Football League, in an attempt to secure the Quakers' short-term survival.

They were hoping to reach a settlement that would allow the club to keep trading to the end of the season - providing breathing space for negotiations over a permanent solution to continue. If that deal were to be agreed, however, it would still leave the club's long-term future looking uncertain.

Sterling, the finance group that loaned £4m to ex-chairman George Reynolds to complete work on the Reynolds Arena, has made the only credible offer for the club.

But Mr Reynolds has declared that he will use his position as the largest creditor, on paper, to block a Sterling-funded rescue deal unless the group drops bankruptcy proceedings against him.

Read more about the Quakers here.