CITIZEN Housing have met the deadline set by Southend City Council to help save Southend United, Echosport understands.

Council leader Daniel Cowan gave Shrimpers chairman Ron Martin until Friday to accept revised plans for the Fossetts Farm project which must be agreed for the consortium to take charge.

And it is now believed discussions are very close to a positive conclusion.

An official announcement will be made tomorrow but it is expected further due diligence will then need to take place.

The consortium – who exchanged contracts for the sale of the club with Martin just before Christmas – must then decide their next step and how much money to invest before the deal is officially completed.

The consortium, which is headed up by Justin Rees, have already spent more than £3.5million on keeping the Shrimpers alive but there are still several financial issues to be sorted.

Blues are back in the High Court on Wednesday due to a winding up petition issued by Stewarts Law and PG Site Services which is around £500,000.

The winding up petition has also seen the club placed back in a transfer embargo, meaning boss Kevin Maher has yet to make a signing this summer.

The ongoing uncertainty has made it an incredibly difficult time for Shrimpers supporters and led to the Echo issuing an open letter to Martin pleading for him not to kill the club.

England legend Alan Shearer also joined calls to save Blues insisting he fully understood the importance of the club to the city.

The National League continue to monitor the situation but have not responded to the Echo’s requests for a comment.