Folkestone Invicta appear to have taken a step closer to administration after Monday’s deadline to find new financial backers passed without success.

A 9am deadline was set to find £70,000 to plug current debts, or else enter administration, and the club’s directors are set to meet within the next 24 hours to make their final decision.

Financial controller Andy Ingleston will advise the three directors, Bob Dix, Brian Merryman and Nigel Busbridge, that he can see no other option after the club failed to attract new money.

Mr Ingleston said: "As far as I’m aware there has been no constructive offer that has been received and as a spokesman for the directors I can only assume that the way forward is administration and we’ll meet up to discuss it later.

"We’ve set a deadline and we should stick to it, we can’t just keep setting deadlines.

"What other options are there? Short of someone coming along with a six-figure sum there are not too many other options."

Administration would mean an automatic 10-point deduction for the club, but with control set to be handed over to an outside company, Mr Ingleston admits there is no guarantee that Folkestone will be able to start the season.

"Will we be playing Ryman League football next season? Will I win the Lottery on Saturday night? I just can’t answer that question," he said.

"Everything is still up in the air and we’ll meet up later today or first thing tomorrow morning."

Folkestone currently have debts of around £70,000 and the decision was made to act after the club failed to replace last season’s main sponsors.

Mr Ingleston was keen, however, to thank those sponsors for their support.

He said: "They completed their commitment to the club and honoured their contracts to us in the right manner and we are extremely grateful to them for their support but the fact is we haven’t been able to replace them."

Should the club enter administration, it could become a bargain purchase for someone, something Ingleston concedes is just the way business works.

"Is there a vulture sitting out there?" he said. "I’ve been in business for 20 years and that’s the way it is. There will be people that benefit from it but that’s just business."