Darlington chairman Raj Singh has declared he is ready to step down from his position at the helm of the club and invited potential new owners to come forward.

Singh's bid to renegotiate a contract on the land at The Northern Echo Arena allowing him to make an offer to buy the site from its owners, Philip Scott and Graham Sizer, appears to have stalled.

A Darlington Borough Council spokeswoman last night left the door open for Singh, saying that the council's offer to talk over various options would remain but that the convenant could not change the "immediate fortunes" of the club and would instead benefit its landowners.

It prompted Singh to say he would put no more money into the club and would be prepared to step aside as chairman.

He said: "If anyone wants to come in and take over the club they can, gladly. It doesn't look like I'm getting anywhere.

"The council is not going to budge. If anyone wants to come in they can do. Last time, George (Houghton) dropped the bombshell. I'm not going to do that."

Singh used his programme notes on Saturday to say he had "hit a new low" in the time he had been involved with the club and was fighting on three fronts - against the council, Scott and Sizer and the players.

When George Reynolds came in as chairman in 1999 and built the club's new all-seater stadium, he agreed a deal with the council to buy the land at a cheaper rate which ensured the authority would receive 75 per cent of any profits if the land was sold on for non-sporting use.

Singh wanted to renegotiate that figure to make the football club viable and at the same time boost the town's economy.

The council spokeswoman said the covenant was used in many large sales of public land or assets to ensure these assets are not purchased at a low price by developers and then sold on for large profits for a different use and at a loss to the taxpayer.

Deputy leader of the council, Steve Harker, said: "We have always welcomed discussion with Raj Singh to discuss all the different ways we can support club - that invitation remains open."

Senior council officials are believed to have been taken aback by Singh's programme notes after spending hours of work trying to help the club.

Coun Harker added: "While we wish the club well and are very sorry for its current difficulties, the change in covenant will not make a difference to their current position.

"We have always worked hard to support the club over the years in lots of different ways.

"But, as we now face our own budget challenges, even if we wanted to provide any subsidy, we are simply not in a position to do so as we battle to maintain public services against a backdrop of the removal of over quarter of our Government funding."

Singh wants to change the terms of the covenant so he can make an offer to Scott and Sizer to buy the ground back for the club.

He added: "They've moved the goalposts. For the two years I've been involved, the council have always led me to believe that it was for the benefit of the football club. I can't go to Scott and Sizer until I know what I can get from the council.

"The whole idea is to tie the deal into the football club."

Singh said it was not possible to run the Conference side viably without it owning its own stadium. The club and stadium became separate entities during the tenure of previous chairman George Houghton.

He brought in Scott and Sizer, whom he knew through the care home business, to lend him £1.7m at an annual interest rate of ten per cent. When Houghton relinquished control after unexpectedly placing the club in administration in 2009, Singh took over as chairman, but the pair had equal shares in the ground. Scott and Sizer placed the holding company, which owned the ground, into receivership in April to reclaim their unpaid debt. The land was subsequently put up for sale but after no buyers came forward, Scott and Sizer became its new owners.

Singh added: "I started off with a dream that I thought I could achieve and put together. It wasn't something that could never be achieved right up until a few weeks ago. Now it can't happen unless we can get something from the council to do a deal with Scott and Sizer, who obviously want as much money as they are entitled to.

"It is the council who have let me down after two years."

Tony Taylor, from Darlington Supporters Trust, said: "I'm very disappointed with the way things have ben moving. As a Darlington fan you are never really surprised that it could happen.

"We have always known this was potentially around the corner because of the complications with the stadium."

He said the trust would not be in a position to immediately help but its fund was set aside for the "worst eventuality", adding: "I would be very surprised if in this sort of economic climate there would be someone else out there to buy the club. I'm not sure if this is the last dance for the football club."