The takeover of Mansfield Town is falling apart, with owner Keith Haslam refusing to respond to the offer on the table by the imposed noon deadline.
Haslam told the club's official site: "I cannot respond to an offer that is not clear in its terms and is not in writing. I am still willing to reach a deal and I am happy to work with Mr Derry, but I cannot respond to a verbal offer when even that seems to moving on a daily basis. I have to leave it to Mr Derry to decide what he now wants to do."
The two sides have no written agreement, have not had one since agreeing terms eight weeks ago, and both sides have been accused of changing terms without discussion. Haslam accused the consortium, led by chairman James Derry, of vastly reducing the offer.
Haslam was then accused of stalling in order to cash in on the FA Cup run, with £100,000 banked from prize money and the TV broadcast of Sunday's match with Harrogate. Haslam rejected this claim initially, saying that he had no claims on monies after November 1st, but then acknowledged that it was a possibility given the delays.
UPDATE: Derry and Haslam will meet on Monday, but Derry told local paper The Chad: "Keith has not rejected our offer per se, he says he still wants clarification on certain points. But as it stands the differences look fairly terminal. We will try to work through it, though."