DOVER Athletic could be forced to find £23,000 within 30 days - or eventually be wound up.

But the club's finance director Steve Cattermole is hoping a workable solution can be found following a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) meeting.

Whites’ proposal to vary the CVA and avoid paying over the sum under a clause known as Modification Five, was rejected at the meeting, held at the offices of Thornton Rones, the CVA supervisor, in Loughton, Essex.

Modification Five states that the club should use 50 per cent of any profits over £20,000 gained from the sale of a player, or an extended cup run, to accelerate its CVA repayments.

The run to the FA Cup first round in 2002-03, when Whites met Oxford United, produced a profit of about £46,000. But the money was needed to cover shortfalls in other income which would have otherwise led to the club being wound up.

Early last week, Mr Cattermole said that he was confident the club would achieve the necessary 75 per cent support from creditors to suspend the Modification for the 2002-03 season only.

But Mr Cattermole said this week: “By Thursday we knew that the Crown agencies (Inland Revenue and Customs & Excise) had voted against, and as they represent around a third of all the debt, the outcome was inevitable.

“It will now be left to the supervisor of the CVA to write to the club and the creditors to inform them of the outcome.”

Mr Cattermole is expecting this to result in the club being served 30 days’ notice to find the money.

But he is hoping a technicality could buy the club time, adding: “While the Modification is clear on what it is designed to achieve, it is silent on when the money should be paid over.

“Once in possession of the formal notices, I will be contacting the supervisor and the Crown agencies with a view to reaching an understanding on what precisely needs to be done.

“While Modification Five was intended to accelerate our payments, not add to them, we might be prepared to make the £23,000 an extra payment, so long as it is payable at the end of the five-year term and not during it.

“As such, no variation was sought for any other event within Modification Five and any future cup success or player transfer will be subject to the clause.

“It would then become academic who is head coach, unless the power group willing to fund the return of Neville Southall can come to the club with some measure of support over this particular predicament.”

* The home FA Cup tie with AFC Wimbledon on Saturday week is set to provide Whites with a welcome financial boost with the London club expected to bring over 1,000 travelling fans.