Darlington's former vice-chairman Raj Singh has claimed he is on the verge of completing his protracted takeover following the club's successful Company Voluntary Arrangement meeting last week.

Self-made multi-millionaire Singh, who has business interests in residential care homes and investment properties in the Tees Valley, revealed he has agreed terms "in principle" with former chairman George Houghton and had already appointed Graham Fordy, as managing director, and financial director Andrew Wilson to the Quakers' new board.

Singh said: "We're nearly there and I'd be hugely disappointed if it didn't go through now after all this, but in the meantime I hope our fans can see and understand that this is a real attempt to run the club properly and get it turned around, and hopefully they will buy into it."

He added: "The new company is in a position to sign the new players we've signed as well as employ club staff and the takeover has been agreed in principle. There's still a number of matters to be ironed out, but our lawyers are well on the way to completing the deal."