Salford City Reds are confident of avoiding going into administration after becoming the subject of a winding-up petition.

The petition has been brought by club sponsors and management consultants Steuer Gregsson Limited and will be heard in Manchester on Monday, October 29.

Salford’s long-serving chairman John Wilkinson said: “It is a very small amount of money involved and we’ve brought in experts to deal with it for us. That’s all we can say at this moment in time.”

Ironically, Steuer Gregsson, a company based in Cheshire, were brought in by the City Reds to prepare the club for new investment.

The Reds, who moved out of their old ground at The Willows at the end of the 2011 season, were hoping their switch into their new £26m City of Salford Stadium at Barton in February would help improve their finances.

But crowds were disappointing in their first season in their new home and, although the rental costs were eased by a ground-sharing arrangement with Sale Sharks, they have been desperately searching for new backers.

The club avoided a winding-up petition in April after being late paying off a tax bill and in June made long-serving chief executive David Tarry redundant.