A consortium is reported to want to talk to Town's main lenders with a view to reducing the club's debt, which stood at £36 million at the end of the last financial year.
Town's debts are owed to three parties, Morley Fund Management, who look after the Norwich Union bond, bankers Barclays and the Bank of Scotland.
The group is said to be made up of parties outside of the current board, although it is reported that chairman David Sheepshanks would continue in his current role if a deal is reached with the lenders.
An initial offer is claimed to have been turned down by the financial institutions but negotiations are expected to continue with the lenders likely to be keen to take a lower sum up front. The Blues have found the interest payments on the Norwich Union bond hard to meet and last year negotiated a three-year interest holiday in exchange for 15% of the club.
Town have long been looking to reduce their debt, which rose by around £500,000 in the financial year to June 2006, and has proved an obstacle when looking for the type of sizeable investment which has recently been injected into the likes of Leicester City.
The club would hope that with the debt reduced, new money would come in and the squad strengthened, making a push for promotion more likely. However, were no new investors to emerge, and depending on the motives of the as-yet-unknown-consortium, the Blues could actually end up having to make larger payments than they are currently committed to.
Town's only comment on the consortium claim is to say that efforts to find a solution to the debt is continuing: "We are in constant dialogue with our lenders and have commented many times, most recently at the club AGM last December, that we are continuing to explore possible solutions to the ongoing debt burden and indeed this remains the case.”
The club borrowed £25 million from Norwich Union in 2001 to pay for the building of the new stands, a debt which now stands at £28 million. The Barclays debt relates to the club's overdraft at the time of administration in 2003, while Town used a mortgage with the Bank of Scotland to purchase the Playford Road training ground.