A FRESH six-week adjournment of Southend United's winding up petition has been granted today, the Echo understands.

Ahead of the scheduled High Court hearing today (May 15), Stewarts Law announced this week that it had agreed to again support the Shrimpers' request for another adjournment.

It is now understood that the winding up hearing has been adjourned for a further six weeks which is marked as "final".

The London Law firm initially agreed to a four week adjournment ahead of a hearing at the High Court in mid-April.

A spokesman said Ron Martin has contacted the firm to advise that completion of the sale of the club was not now likely to occur before the date of the adjourned winding up hearing today, despite "substantial progress having been made".

Announcing Stewarts' support of the adjournment on Monday, the spokesman added: "We understand that this further adjournment will provide sufficient time to secure completion of the sale of the club enabling it to swiftly clear its historical debts and return to solvency."

The legal firm filed the petition in February over unpaid bills, after representing the club in previous court disputes with HM Revenue and Customs.

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