UNIBOND chiefs have called in legal experts to help settle an amazing dispute which threatens to prevent the league's 44 clubs from kicking off the new season on Saturday.

Member clubs like Accrington Stanley and Chorley are faced with the prospect of being suspended by the FA unless a solution can be found to the row over Conference rejects Barrow.

The Cumbrians were thrown out of the Nationwide Football Conference last season for financial reasons rather than footballing ones after a vote.

But the UniBond League have refused to accept the Bluebirds to their ranks, insisting that they should start further down the non-league structure as Aldershot Town and Newport AFC did.

Barrow successfully appealed against the decision to ban them from the UniBond.

But the League were unhappy with that ruling and, at a meeting with the FA Sanctions Committee, the Committee told the UniBond that they would only be sanctioned by the FA if Barrow were part of the League.

Talks have now reached crisis point with the new season due to kick-off at the weekend and UniBond officials have called in legal experts in a bid to find a solution.

"It's sub-judicial, it's with our lawyers now and I'm not free to say anything else at this stage," said UniBond chairman Ken Marsden.

But the FA are still confident the situation will be resolved in time for the weekend.

"The Sanctions Committee have said that the UniBond League will only be sanctioned on the basis that Barrow are in it," FA spokesman Adrian Bevington said.

"Talks are continuing with the lawyers for the UniBond League, officials at Barrow and ourselves and we are hoping to reach an amicable solution as a matter of urgency." Accrington Stanley commercial manager John DeMaine, however, is backing the UniBond League's stance although he insists the Crown Ground club are not letting the dispute affect their final preparations.

The Reds are due to start their campaign at Lincoln United and DeMaine insists it's business as usual until they hear otherwise.

"Until anybody tells us any different, we are carrying on as normal and preparing for a trip to Lincoln," said DeMaine.

"But the way I see the position is that Barrow weren't relegated from the Conference, they were thrown out because of financial problems.

"They weren't relegated in the true sense of the word because they didn't finish in the bottom three so why should the UniBond League have to accept a club that isn't wanted by the Conference?

"But that's just my opinion and not necessarily Accrington Stanley's."

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