A judge has adjourned a bid to wind up Southend United after being told that bosses at the struggling League One club hope to be able to clear outstanding tax debts.

HM Revenue & Customs officials say tax is owed and this morning asked a judge to wind up the 114-year-old club.

But a barrister representing the Blues told Judge Cheryl Jones that chairman Ron Martin expected money to be available in the near future which would clear the undisclosed debt. 

Hilary Stonefrost told the judge the club was putting together a new stadium at Fossetts Farm, which was an important community development and was supported by Southend Council.

Judge Jones considered the winding up application at a hearing in the specialist Insolvency and Companies Court in London.

She said it would be reconsidered on April 29.

Detail of how much the club had owed did not emerge at the hearing.

In January, a different judge dismissed a separate bid by tax officials to wind up Southend.

A lawyer representing tax officials had told Judge Sebastian Prentis that a debt had been paid.