Construction firm Alfred McAlpine is in the final stages of negotiations to buy the Manor Ground from Oxford United Football Club, the Oxford Mail can reveal.

Plans by McAlpine to build a housing estate on the site have been discussed by Oxford City Council although the company has not yet applied for outline planning permission.

The news comes days before the expiry of the deadline that the city council has set for a detailed timetable of how the club plans to build its new stadium at Minchery Farm.

Under rules set by the Taylor Report the club must either move out of the Manor Ground or totally revamp it before the start of the 1999 football season.

United managing director Keith Cox would not confirm the identity of the potential buyer and said the club did not yet have a completion date for the sale of the Manor.

He said: "We have made clear that any transaction involving the sale of the Manor should follow a commitment to a date for recommencing work on the stadium." The city council owns the land at Minchery Farm where United's half-built stadium stands.

United is eight months overdue to pay the council £900,000 for the 125-year lease of the site.

Another £1m would have now been due to the council in rent if the stadium had been completed.

Work stopped at the Minchery Farm site 18 months ago when contractors Taylor Woodrow walked off site over a "payment issue."

Taylor Woodrow confirmed that they were aware that Alfred McAlpine are in the final stages of negotiating to buy the Manor.

A spokesman for Alfred McAlpine told the Oxford Mail: "We cannot comment on negotiations that may or may not be proceeding."

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