A MAJOR sponsorship deal could help Hereford United avoid entering into a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), claims advisor Joel Nathan.

United have started to pay off their football creditors and are due to appear at the Royal Courts of Justice on Monday to defend a winding-up petition.

But Nathan revealed earlier today: “We are negotiating at the moment with a major blue-chip company to sponsor this club which, if it comes off, means we would not go into a CVA.”

Advisor Andy Lonsdale, who is also at Edgar Street, says all the club’s football creditors will be paid today.

Lonsdale said: “Football creditors will be paid today and everything will be in place for the game against St Neots Town on August 9.

“We were always going to pay the football creditors.

“We have sat down and had an overlook of everything.

“We had two very big sponsors who were going to come in and invest in the club for a great deal of money.

“But because of the bad publicity through the Hereford Times, Bulls Banter and Bulls News they decided to pull out.

“There’s no point in coming out and talking until you are 100 per cent ready to do so.

“I am not a great believer in giving lip service just for the sake of it. You have to get all your facts straight and your ducks in a row before you come out and talk because you get shot down.

“There are fans who are very passionate about the club and hang on every word you say.

“We have been very quiet until we’re ready to talk and now we’re ready.

“We have started paying football creditors and this will be finished tonight.”

Lonsdale is buoyed by United’s young squad.

"The squad is ready and we have had some good pre-season friendlies and, unfortunately, they had to be played behind closed doors," said Lonsdale.

“We won 18-0 against Eagley and beat Bedfont and Feltham 9-0 last Saturday and played Besiktas in Leeds and we got beat 6-0."

Nathan said: "We have got a squad that needs to play football and we could not do it on our home ground.

“We had a huge friendly lined up against Cardiff City that was taken away for us and would have helped football creditors to paid even more quickly.

“We have been offered some other huge games that we have had to turn down.”

Lonsdale added:“Everyone expected the club to go into liquidation and it’s not going to happen. The CVA is almost done.”