IT is five years since the future of Bishop Auckland Football Club was hanging by a thread.

But when the crunch came, readers of The Northern Echo stepped into save the team - a founder member of the Football League - from certain bankruptcy.

Now the Bishops are looking forward to a rosy future and the prospect of building a £1.1m stadium.

Club chairman Tony Duffy remembers the day the club nearly folded in the face of a hefty legal bill. It had to raise £30,000 after it was sued by a player who suffered a broken leg.

He said: "I was secretary at the time. We were left to collect a lot of money in a short time. Obviously, with the help of The Northern Echo we collected it.

"The people really got behind us. But we were only days from folding.''

The Northern Echo called on Manchester United to come to the rescue of the club that in 1958 had sent its players to the superclub's aid after the Munich air crash claimed the lives of some of the Busby Babes.

The Reds responded by sending the then England International and former Middlesbrough player Gary Pallister. One of today's stars, Paul Scholes, was part of a star-studded team to play a friendly fundraising match.

More than 4,000 fans packed the Kingsway ground in Bishop Auckland to watch the game, which saw Manchester United repay a debt of honour and save the day for the Bishops.

That event, and the devotion of the townspeople and readers of The Northern Echo helped raise £30,000 in just 22 days.

Although Manchester United won the match, Bishop Auckland was the true winner.

This season sees the Bishops still at the Kingsway ground as it battles through the Unibond League. But it is trying to raise more money, this time to expand the club and take it to a new purpose-built facility.

Outline planning permission has already been given for a 10,000 capacity ground in Tindale Crescent, West Auckland.

Mr Duffy is completing an application for an £850,000 grant from the Football Foundation, which will go along way towards paying for the ultimate dream.

Cash from the sale of the Kingsway ground will also go towards the £1.1m bill.

He said: "Our facilities have now outlived the requirements of the FA and we are actually looking forward now and looking for expansion. We are looking forward to getting the new stadium and taking the club into the Conference and then the Football League.

"That is the dream.'