ACCRINGTON Stanley joint chairperson Marcelle Lazarus has appealed for investment to help the club pay off their £308,000 tax bill by October 28.

Stanley have until then to pay off the money owed to HM Customs and Revenue and will otherwise face winding up proceedings.

Around £90,000 has already been raised, although key people inside the club may put in up to £120,000 and several fund-raising events have been arranged.

Lazarus was brought into the club when Dave O’Neill agreed to take over from Eric Whalley in the summer and is optimistic the bill can be paid off.

She said: “We’re hoping that we will be able to do some kind of deal with HMRC and we’re still quite hopeful that we’ll find the money.

“There are all little bits of things happening to raise the money.

“We’re looking for somebody to come in and say, ‘Here’s £200,000 for you’.

“It would be nice if people gave us a call. We have so many sponsorship packages, so anything would be good.”

Lazarus had been involved in football before, organising phones for players via her mobile phone company.

But she admits she has found the step up to joint chairperson, given the club’s current situation, a real challenge.

“Dave is doing the day-to-day running of the club and he brought me in to raise the profile of the club and the brand,” said Lazarus.

“I’ve been in football now for 11 or 12 years and I didn’t realise how hard this was going to be.”

Accounts published this week showed the club made a loss of £153,455 between May 2007 and May 2008.

Net assets were worth £18,351 in May 2008, down from £256,820 the year before, while creditors totalled £740,986 – up from £368,037.