SOLICITORS acting on behalf of troubled Chester City, along with the club’s administrators, Refresh Recovery and their legal advisers, held urgent meetings last night to try and find a positive way forward for the Deva Stadium outfit.

City are racing against the clock to try and find a solution to the problems that are prompting the Football Association to continue refusing the club’s application for affiliation.

The refusal by the FA could ultimately mean that City, in its current form, are forced out of business as the deadline from the Football Conference expires tonight, and if a solution isn’t found it could well be curtains for the club.

Apparently there a number of stumbling blocks still to be resolved and if an agreement between the club’s legal team and the FA isn’t brokered, it could mean a hefty points deduction in addition to the minus 10 points they have already been handed, or even the doomsday scenario.

Chester were due to open their Blue Square Premier League campaign this Saturday with a visit to Grays Athletic but whatever the outcome of further meetings that are due to continue today, the weekend trip to Essex looks extremely unlikely.

It is understood that players’ contracts haven’t yet been authorised by the FA and the Grays Athletic ‘off the field’ preparations have been hampered because of the uncertainty that the situation has created.

Chester have already had to cancel pre-season friendly matches against Marine, Liverpool, Burnley and Telford United because of the lack of affiliation.