The proposed takeover by the Pinnacle group has hit a last-minute snag over the transfer of membership of the Football League to the new company.

The Football League will hold an emergency board meeting on Monday to resolve the issue, which - according to the Echo - relates to a notice of withdrawal that was issued to the club when it was deemed to be in insolvency proceedings by the Football League.

It is believed that one of the conditions of the takeover is that they are able to appeal against the ten-point deduction, but this notice of withdrawal would have to be retracted by the League in order for this condition to be satisfied. This news goes against what Lord Mawhinney, the League chairman, said when the points deduction was imposed that the club was free to appeal against the decision, which has once again thrown the Football League’s consistency and knowledge of what the hell they’re actually doing into even more doubt than existed before (if that’s at all possible).

Tony Lynam, the frontman for the Pinnacle group, sent an open letter to supporters:

Dear All

I know many of you are sitting tight eagerly expecting some news, so I’m taking 2 minutes out to make you aware of some issues that we are trying to resolve to complete our takeover.

Please respect the fact that I cannot go into the finer details of some of the legal issues - myself, colleagues and clients are bound by a non disclosure agreement in respect of the sensitive details, and this will be adhered to at all times.

You may be aware that a brief announcement was made earlier this afternoon confirming that, despite our continued efforts, there are some outstanding issues to resolve prior to us being in a position to completing our takeover. There are to my mind 2 legal issues - questions which need to be answered. These I am sure will be put to bed without delay. A further remaining issue is that of the Football Leagues position over our license. Again, it would be hoped that this can be confirmed without delay. My colleagues and I, clients and the Administrator have made our position clear to the Football League on the detail of this issue. I cannot go into it now, but it is cricitcal that this is resolved, and in a timely manner. We will continue to work hard with the Administrator to resolve this, as this is in my view the final piece of the jigsaw.

My hope is that all outstanding issues will be resolved without undue delay, as we are itching to get on with the important job of rebuilding this great Club - both for ourselves, the supports, and the wider community.

I hope the next announcement that we can make will be to introduce your new owner and Board, and our opportunity to set out our vision for the future.

Best wishes to you all

Tony Lynam

While there’s not an awful lot of useful information in that letter, it’s at least reassuring to know that they are working to try to resolve them. It’s been reported that there is at least one other group interested in taking over should the Pinnacle offer fall by the wayside, but it would be seen as an absolute disaster for the club to essentially have to repeat the last three weeks with a different party.

It would be fair to expect no news over the weekend or on Monday morning until the League have had this emergency meeting.