Administrators from Quantuma have confirmed that a rescue plan has fallen through at the last minute threatening the club with insolvency.

Quantuma managing director and joint administrator of the club, Ian Wright said: ‘On 15 April, Craig Morrison and I, together, the joint administrators of Dumbarton Football, announced that we had agreed heads of terms with Gareth Phillips, in a deal which would see the club exit from administration.

‘With regret, I must announce that due to ill health, Mr Phillips has had to withdraw his offer and in doing so has forfeited the non-refundable deposit which was paid.

‘We are fortunate to be in a position where we have other credible parties who had expressed an interest in acquiring the club out of administration. We have already engaged with these parties and will provide a further update as soon as we are able to do so.’

The club went into administration last November after a land deal which saw private equity firm Cognitive Capital, owner of Dumbarton sell some of the club’s land to a shell company. However, this money was never paid back. Cognitive Capital owns a majority shareholding in Dumbarton FC, with the private equity stake 80% owned by Phillips through Pendragon Group.