Notts County will not be booted out of the National League despite the uncertainty over their future, it has been confirmed.
League chiefs confirmed that Notts will play in the non-league’s top flight next season easing fears they could have been demoted due to their crippling financial problems.
But Notts will be slapped with a 10-point penalty deduction should they go into administration with that scenario still very much a possibility.
The Magpies have until July 10 to complete a sale of the club after they avoided being wound-up in the High Court last Wednesday due to an unpaid tax bill of £250,000.
But one of the bids for the club was plunged into fresh doubt this weekend after it emerged one of the advisors to a consortium led by Colin Dodd is a fraudster living under a new name.
Alex May who has been advising the group was previously known as Alick Kapikanya who was jailed in 2014 for leading a gang of con artists that preyed on the elderly, secretly seizing their properties and continually remortgaging them.
Notts says they are now looking to seek further talks with Dodd’s group to clarify May’s exact involvement despite fierce protestations from fans that negotiations should end immediately.
The National League has proven they are not afraid to get tough with teams with financial problems having demoted Gateshead to Conference North.
Heed had originally appealed their demotion after Neil Pinkerton sealed a takeover from controversial previous owner Dr Ranjan Varghese.
But their bid for a reprieve was rejected meaning Aldershot who, finished fourth from bottom, will stay in the National League’s top flight.
