IN an age where the effects of the ITV Digital collapse on football clubs continue to bite, the Sterling Consortium is a name synonymous with the increasing desperation of lower-league clubs.

The finance group, made up of accountants Melvyn Laughton, Sean Verity and Stewart Davies, has been looked upon as the last hope for some of the English game's oldest teams.

At a time when the main banks will not risk lending money to lowly football clubs, Sterling has been viewed as a white knight that could avert disaster.

Laughton, Verity and Davies have interests in several finance companies, as well as being involved in chartered accountancy company BKR Haines Watts, the administrators of Carlisle United in 2002.

Former Darlington chairman George Reynolds turned to Sterling for a loan to finish work on the club's 27,000-capacity stadium because he could not get the money anywhere else.

Under Sterling's terms, the loan was secured on the Reynolds Arena, ensuring their debts would be paid off if the club went into administration.

The annual interest rate is 15 per cent. There may also be stiff penalties for late payments.

Mr Reynolds was not the first football club owner to become a Sterling customer.

In 2001, the group provided former salesman Darren Brown with a £150,000 loan after he gained control of struggling Chesterfield.

The money was secured on the club's Saltergate ground.

When Sterling called in the loan, as well as £50,000 in "profit costs" and a £30,000 arrangement fee, die-hard fans fought to raise £212,000 to help pay it off and keep their home venue.

The group also helped finance a deal to buy Barnsley Football Club. Patrick Cryne, who took charge at the club with former Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale, later said he was appalled to find interest charges of £3,500 a day.

Sterling is doing nothing wrong. The terms of its financial deals are clearly spelt out in documents signed by desperate clubs. It charges the kind of interest rates the market can stand, and it charges a relatively high rate because the more standard methods of raising funds are usually closed to clubs.

In the modern era, football is seen as a bad risk.

Sterling is notoriously media-shy, although in a rare interview, Mr Laughton said the group's charges were not exorbitant, but commensurate with a club's stability.

Now, the group finds itself in an unfamiliar situation, potentially taking charge of a football club, as opposed to bailing one out.

Running Darlington was said by administrators to be the second-last thing Sterling wanted.

The last thing, however, was liquidation and being left with a stadium that would be of minimal value without a football team to play in it.

Sterling is unlikely to want to run the club in the long-term, meaning an end to the feverish speculation about buyouts is not likely for some time yet.

A consortium of local businessmen headed by Quakers' associate director Mark Meynell has been monitoring the situation.

The consortium still harbours hopes of owning the club and guaranteeing supporter-representation on the board of directors.

But, despite being forced into a last-resort move, Sterling will not want to take a loss from its involvement in Darlington, and a substantial financial package will be needed from any aspiring owners.

Vinay Bedi, a football analyst at North-East stockbroker Wise Speke, said the Reynolds Arena remained critical to Darlington.

The idea of Sterling making a quick escape by renting the ground to a new club owner has been raised.

However, Mr Bedi said: "The crux of this whole issue is what happens to the stadium, the new owner is in a much stronger position if they have it.

"Without it, you are not really securing the long-term future of the business and you are going to have the burden of quite a large rental hanging over you."

While the prospect of Sterling in charge represents something of a step into the unknown for fans, Mr Bedi said: "If Sterling are going to be there, it at least means some sort of future."