Notts County: Non-league club's member scheme donates £25k for wages

Notts County remain up for sale and are next due in court on 31 July over an unpaid tax bill

A membership scheme which has supported Notts County for more than 30 years has donated £25,000 to the financially-stricken club to help pay staff wages.

The cash from Lifeline, set up in 1986, has aided staff "who do not benefit from external financial assistance".

The Professional Footballers' Association also became involved after June's salaries were not paid.

"Monies have been gratefully received by all beneficiaries," said a statement on the National League club's website.

Lifeline was an initiative established during a previous financial crisis faced by the Magpies in the mid-1980s, with money raised through membership of the scheme.

The club say that more than £3m has been contributed to Notts County since then.

Since Alan Hardy's takeover in January 2017, the club has received £211,000 from Lifeline - with money going towards improvements to County's Meadow Lane home and other "important projects", such as the purchase of a new first-team kit van.

The donation comes after proceeds from a pre-season friendly between Notts and Ilkeston Town were used to help unpaid staff, with fans also fundraising for the cause.

Notts' failure to pay player and staff wages comes during a turbulent time for the 157-year-old club, which was relegated from the English Football League for the first time in May, having been a founding member of the competition in 1888.

The club has been up for sale since January and faces the prospect of liquidation, with Notts due in the High Court for a fourth time on 31 July over an unpaid tax bill.