Oxford United have staved off administration - for the time being - but their long-term future remains clouded in doubt.

After a 2-hour board meeting yesterday, the directors pledged to try to keep the club as a going concern.

Thanks to a supportive Lloyds Bank, and further assistance from the Profesional Footballers' Association in helping to pay players' wages, they had bought themselves time.

Managing director Keith Cox said Grenoble Investments Ltd were "still keen" to pursue their takeover of the club, despite backer John Gunn's withdrawal last weekend.

But Cox admitted there were two major impediments, one being that Grenoble had realised that the Local Plan designation for the Manor Ground had read: "The Oxford United stadium will be retained as a football ground until a suitable replacement is found."

This meant they had a "considerable risk" in buying the Manor Ground without being certain that they could complete the new stadium.

Cox also said that although at the club's AGM it was thought that the basis for dealing with debt and cost of completing the project had been agreed, this was now not the case.

He said: "A further meeting has now been arranged between consortium members and advisers and Taylor Woodrow. It is clear that agreement between incoming owners and Taylor Woodrow is an essential precedent to any deal."

Because of Gunn's withdrawal and the apparent collapse of the takeover, £350,000 of working capital which United were relying on was no longer available and that was why players' wages couldn't be paid on time last week, he said. However, Cox believed Lloyds Bank seemed satisfied that the club could continue as a going concern and they have extended United's overdraft facility.

The players were therefore able to be paid on Thursday. Remaining office staff, groundsmen and the management team, including manager Malcolm Shotton and his assistant Mark Harrison, will be paid "within days rather than weeks", Cox stated.

However, United's MD issued a warning: "We are quite sincere about the very poor prospects of the business," he declared.

"Because of the Taylor Report implementations, because we can't ground-share indefinitely and because as a trading issue, the business makes more sense at new premises, a deal has to be done quickly."

Cox added: "We've been given time by people being supportive. We think it's much better to sell the club as a going concern rather than out of administration where you lose goodwill."

He expects Taylor Woodrow and Grenoble Investments Ltd representatives to meet next week.

Cox said the club would hold an open meeting for supporters to ask questions, "when the position becomes clearer".

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.