Vaughan has been in charge at the Deva Stadium since October 2001

Former Chester owner Stephen Vaughan is keen to offer his continued support to the troubled club despite being banned from serving as a company director.

Vaughan admits that he has effectively now 'retired' from football after his 11-year ban for an alleged VAT fraud began in this week.

But, after putting his shares in eldest son Stephen's name, he insisted that he will still back the club financially.

"I will still support the club," 48-year-old Vaughan told BBC Sport.

"There will still be money available.

"All I've ever done is put money into Chester and that will still be the case."

That could, of course, change if Vaughan's year-long offer to sell the club was finally taken up - and there are two potential, so far unreported bids in the pipeline.

But, in the short term, they are battling just to get through the next three days.

Chester's long-term aim this season is to somehow claw back the 22-point deficit they currently face in their battle to beat the drop to the Blue Square North.

But Saturday's home date with Eastbourne Borough has hardly been helped by City losing four loan players in the last week.

Under a transfer embargo because of their sorry financial state, Chester boss Jim Harvey was already limited to using only the players he had on existing loans.

I believe common sense will prevail. We're just preoccupied with trying to keep the club in the Football League Former Chester owner Stephen Vaughan

But midfielders Michael Coulson (Barnsley) and Clark Keltie (Rochdale) and defender Johnny Flynn (Blackburn Rovers) have now all been allowed to return to their parent clubs, only to be sent straight back out on loan to other clubs.

And experienced striker Gregg Blundell, frustrated by his lack of first team starts, was allowed to join Barrow on loan on Thursday.

That leaves Harvey, who also has a string of injury concerns, with a patched-up team to face Eastbourne.

And there could be an even more bruising encounter on Monday when the footballing authorities are due at an already twice postponed meeting to discuss the issue of City's unpaid debts to neighbours Wrexham and Vauxhall Motors and the PFA.

But Vaughan is insistent that Chester, who believe are themselves owed £265,000 (largely due to the continued non-payment of a discretionary Football League parachute payment), will survive Monday's deadline.

"I believe common sense will prevail," said Vaughan. "I can understand why the fans are frustrated. And we know mistakes have been made.

"In hindsight, we should have gone into administration last season and taken the 10-point penalty then and we wouldn't be in the mess we're in now.

"But we were just preoccupied with trying to keep the club in the Football League.

"And all we are concerned about now is the future of Chester City Football Club.

"The Conference have gone out of their way to help us throughout all this and I'm sure it will all be sorted on Monday.

"We've just got to take what's happened on the chin and try to pull together as a club.

"I know we're under a transfer embargo and we've not been able to bring anyone in but, after the loan deadline on Thursday, every club's under an embargo now too.

"I'm not settling for relegation again. I still think there's hope. I say let's get to the New Year and see where we are then."

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