EMBATTLED Accrington Stanley chief executive Rob Heys has received a big message of support from a surprising source.

Merchant banker Ilyas Khan and Mr Heys have clashed during the Reds eight-week battle to raise funds for a £308,000 unpaid tax bill.

The official Stanley supporters' club has called for Mr Heys and the board to resign after the club were given an extra week at the High Court on Wednesday to raise the cash.

But Mr Khan, whose pledge to pay of the tax bill at the court hearing stopped Stanley being wound up, has lept to Mr Heys' defence.

He said: "Rob is a good lad and doesn't deserve the comments that are being thrown at him.

"I know not everyone will agree with me, but I would say that Rob is probably just as much a victim as the rest of us."

Mr Heys has come in for particular criticism after telling the Lancashire Telegraph on Tuesday that the club had paid off £200,000 to HM Revenue and Customs.

In court it emerged just £96,000 had been repaid, despite a fundraising campaign apparently collecting £116,000, and repeated pledges that the directors would pump in an extra £100,000.

Bosses have also been blasted for refusing to accept Mr Khan's earlier offers to pay off the tax bill because they did not want to give up control of the club.

Mr Khan said Mr Heys had given thousands of pounds of his own money to the survival fund and had tried all he could to re-mortgage his house to raise more cash.

Mr Khan said that the level of criticism levelled at Mr Heys 'compelled' him to speak up.

He said: "It's not a time for talking about, or making comments about individuals, but there has been so much said about Rob that if I didn't say something, it would look like I was condoning it all.

"I have known Rob for many years.

"Some of his statements have been proven to be incorrect, but even then I believe he was simply working off information he was given. In my honest opinion, Rob believed that the club was going to make good on its obligations.

"I would ask people to think of his circumstances. He is often the last man standing.

"I'm sure lots of people will disagree with me, and that's all right because people do have different opinions, but I had to say something."

Mr Heys was unavailable for comment.