David Sheepshanks says the club's major lenders have agreed in principle to the debt restructuring announced at the AGM earlier this month. The chairman has also revealed that once the agreement is reached there will be further investment in the club.

Sheepshanks said: "I announced at the AGM that we are at an advanced stage of an arrangement with our three main lenders to reschedule debt service.

"I am pleased to say that we now have agreement in principle and I am hopeful that all will be concluded in early January. We also have some limited but significant investment ready to come in as soon as the arrangement is complete."

A report claims the restructuring will hand boss Joe Royle an extra £1.5 million to spend on players and their wages.

Currently, under arrangements made as part of the CVA agreed when the club exited administration in 2003, Town pay around £2 million a year to Norwich Union (the £25 million bond which helped pay for the building of the two new stands), Barclays (the overdraft built up prior to administration) and the Bank of Scotland (the loan which bought the Playford Road training ground).

Sheepshanks has called on fans to get behind the team when they take on Luton on Saturday after protests against his running of the club during the autumn and terrace dissent aimed at manager Joe Royle on Monday: "Instead of the tense, even maybe hostile atmosphere that some may predict, I ask that all Town fans get behind Joe Royle and the players.

"We are depleted, we cannot get reinforcements before next week and we have to go with what we have got and those who are fit."

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