St Albans City could be issued with a winding up order if they fail to pay their tax bill within the next week.

The Saints were given a transfer embargo back in September for an unpaid tax bill but it was resolved within weeks. It is understood the Blue Square South club fell behind with payments and were given another embargo in March which has remained in place.

City are thought to owe in the region of £10,000 and if they fail to find the money by next Tuesday it is understood they could be issued with the winding up order.

Chairman John Gibson said: "Discussions are ongoing with the Inland Revenue. Nick Archer [director] has been dealing with it and I think there has been some debate over the actual bill. I have not personally dealt with the discussions but we would expect a satisfactory conclusion in the near future."

Gibson has also explained why his talks with potential investors earlier this year failed to get off the ground. It is believed the chairman is actively seeking more investment into the club with debts believed to be spiralling to at least £35,000.

Former Saints director Ian Ridley introduced the pair, who were willing to put £100,000 into the financially-stricken outfit, to Gibson at the start of the year and they held two meetings but were unable to agree on a way forward.

Gibson claims the investors wanted to have sole ownership of the club and he was unable to offer them this due to the other shareholders at Clarence Park. In any case, Gibson insists City are better off with a group of shareholders rather than one owner.

He said: "I'm looking to the protectionism of the football club. That does not ultimately discount discussions but in this case it never got past the first stage. They wanted 100 per cent and no proof was given about their finances.

"There was no offer and they didn't sign a confidentiality agreement because it never got to that stage. The offer never actually took place. We had preliminary discussions but they wanted 100 per cent and we were not able to give that.

"In the future the best way forward is not to have one individual owner but between five to ten shareholders. If we have ten shareholders then hopefully the right decisions for the club will be taken. If one comes a cropper then at least there are nine others to hold the fort.

"If we were to give 100 per cent then that would shut the door on the Supporters Trust and they definitely want 10 per cent in the football club."

But one of the potential investors, whose partner has top level experience of running a football club, insists they were not initially asking for sole ownership.

He claims it was only when Gibson failed to produce any information on the accounts that the pair decided "it wasn't a workable partnership" and they were only interested in taking on the whole club.

He said: "Ian arranged for a second meeting but John didn't produce any accounts or anything. It was a very short meeting. I said we were interested but there was no organisation and structure so we wanted to buy 100 per cent of the club. We felt it wasn't quite right and found it strange that there was no youth team.

"There was no clarity whatsoever and we said we needed to have 100 per cent because it wasn't a workable partnership. All I know is he hasn't disclosed anything and it was a no go.

"I was surprised to go to a second meeting about buying St Albans and not have any figures or documentation whatsoever. The meeting couldn't have lasted more than 15 minutes.

"It was extremely frustrating. I don't think he was interested in standing down and I think he wanted to stay on as chairman."

In other news, Saints boss Steve Castle has been linked with the vacant Braintree Town job. Robbie Garvey resigned as their manager on Friday after failing to guide the Iron into the play-offs and Castle has been reportedly tracked by several clubs.

He lives close to Braintree and is likely to be in the frame after winning plenty of admirers for guiding St Albans into mid-table despite their off-field problems.