SOUTHEND United have been given three months’ breathing space over an unpaid tax debt.

At a hearing at London’s High Court yesterday, Registrar John Simmonds agreed to give the club 91 days to pay the undisclosed debt, after being told by lawyers for the club that finance was in place to do so in October.

The League One club was taken to court by HM Revenue and Customs as part of official winding up proceedings over a debt of £660,000.

Registrar Simmonds said: “I will adjourn to the October 28 for payment in full.”

However, he warned the club: “It is a long adjournment and I am sure that will bear in the court’s mind if the debt hasn’t been paid.”

Lawyers for HM Revenue and Customs told the judge it had rejected a series of proposals from the club for payment over the last two years, but it did not oppose this adjournment as long as the payment was made in full.

Southend United’s lawyers said the move to seek a winding-up order against the club represented a “sudden change of attitude from Revenue and Customs to Southend United”.

They told the court the case had a long history, but Revenue and Customs now recognised Southend United was going to be funded by another company involved in funding the team’s new stadium at Fossetts Farm.

The judge was told a “financial crisis” at the club had arisen when a delay in achieving planning permission for the new stadium affected a funding agreement with a multinational store.

The club has since renegotiated with the store, and expects to receive money by the end of October, with the intention to pay the debt by that time.

The Blues hope to move to the new stadium at the start of the 2010/2011 season.

The case follows a dismissal in May of another winding up petition brought against the club over a debt – the details of which were not disclosed.