NATIONWIDE Conference League chief executive John Moules and Thanet council leader Sandy Ezekiel are to meet to discuss the future of crisis club Margate.

The council recently withdrew support for the club’s planned £5 million stadium redevelopment at Hartsdown Park because of continued uncertainty over the financing of the project.

Cllr Ezekiel said: “The discussions will centre around the desire to keep professional football alive at Margate but at this late stage we cannot promise anything. The council is continuing to do all it can."

He stressed: “I hope the Conference will accept that these are exceptional circumstances and that it may reconsider its position.

"It had stressed that the ground must be upgraded to Conference standard by the end of the season if Margate were to be allowed to stay in the league. I hope that they may extend the deadline but I do not know.

“I understand that the club vice chairman Keith Piper is working on a new plan for the stadium with elements of the old project included.

"All the terms and conditions, as before, must be acceptable to the council. We are still negotiating with the club about how the pitch can be reinstated. We never gave permission for its removal in the first place.

“What I need to stress to the fans is that it is not this council that has let them down but the club that was unable to fulfil its commitments to the successful outcome of the original scheme.”

The meeting with Mr Moules is expected to take place on Thursday.

Margate are in the second season of playing home matches at Dover while the redevelopment project continues and are facing fines from the Conference for failing to play at home.

Former chairman Jim Parmenter who resigned early this month said the long delays were costing the club hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost gate receipts and sponsorship.